I personally find the third act odd, however for me it works. Here's why: We get to see a dramatic collision of parallel ideas which take on almost biblical appearances. Capa, the Icarus II physicist, unafraid of death and willing to sacrifice himself to save everyone else and Pinpacker, the Icarus I captain, willing to sacrifice everyone for his own twisted comfort of belief. Capa represents humanity's most honorable side, light itself. And for it and his bravery, he is rewarded by the Sun's welcoming touch. Pinbacker represents humanity's absolute worst, the abyss itself. Not only his "home" is a pitch-black ghost ship, whenever he is on screen, the image is blurred and twisted, culminating in a sequence of Capa looking down at Pinbacker, as if the manifestation of that abyss. Interestingly enough, the moment Pinbacker looks at the camera and claims it was not our place to challenge god, his eyes turn from normal to completely black, signifying it. Lastly, when both meet each other, Pinbacker at first mistakes Capa to be an angel. While Pinbacker by all means is a complete opposite, a corrupted, charred, melted, disfigured evil demon. That demon from the abyss is what accounts for many of humanity's failures. Selfishness over selflessness. If that wins, then indeed there will be nothing to ever show we were ever here.
Wow what an interesting theory. It actually makes a lot of sense. Never thought about the dark versus light but with pinbacker asking if he's an angel, really does put it into perspective. Well done. I did a review of the movie on my channel and tried to explain some of the misconceptions regarding the third act in case you're interested!
Nah, Capa's character is anything but. Dude makes critical mistake after critical mistake, so none of what you're arguing holds up. Capa's idea to get a second payload is horrendously stupid, he's banking on the Icarus I being perfectly and fully operational after 7 years of disappearing and failing its mission. This isn't just a huge gamble, the odds of this are astronomical. And of course, the film supports this by having this idea fail, resulting in the loss of their oxygen, 2 of the crew members, and pinbacker getting on board. Then, once Capa realizes someone is on board the ship who shouldn't be there, consuming crucial oxygen, what does he do? Tell the other crew members? Sound some sort of alarm? Lock the intruder in the sun room until the crew can figure out what to do? No. He tells no one, and approaches the man to talk to him, getting badly cut, and allowing for pinbacker to escape, sabotage the ship, and kill 2 more of the crew. Capa's character doesn't represent the hope of humanity, or its most honorable side, as you put it. Dude singlehandedly tried to mess up the mission over and over and over again. Every time Capa had a significant impact on the plot, the odds of the mission got worse. To the point that they had to sacrifice themselves to even deliver the payload. Worst character in the movie IMO, and that includes pinbacker, who should have never had an opportunity to board their ship in the first place.
The flashes of the icarus 1 crews faces as they board their dark empty ship still haunt me. And I thought the thing that saved what would have been a standard 'monster on the ship' ending was the fact that trying to conceive of pinbackers headstate, and what he spent the last 7 years doing on a ghost ship in the vast emptiness of space gave more of a chill than any alien or monster could have. Though I would be interested to see what Quentin would have done instead that would have reached the same dramatic heights. Hard to imagine what could replace that finally
That was one of the best horror inducing methods I've ever seen. So subtle, but so disturbing. Also, the sound of Icarus 1 distress beacon is a masterpiece, it is still giving me chills.
I think that the introduction of Pinbaker was to me something great .He was a person that his initial ideals were to save humanity but through his journey probably realised that he disliked human existence and thought that nature itself wanted to annihilate us .It is like he felt that all the suffering in the world caused by human evil would seize to exist by destroying the mission that went against the will of nature or God if you will .That is how I see it
I 100% blame the editing on how Pinbacker is presented in the film. If it just depicted him clearly as some deranged demagogue on a derelict ship that got really badly sunburned and sabotaged his entire crew, it would be much more palpable to general audiences. Instead they went too hard in depicting him as a devilish ethereal entity that ultimately did a disservice to the film
@@frankmerker630 Fully agree, it would have worked if the film hadn't used as many horror tropes in the end, down to having Pinbacker look like naked Freddy Krueger. So much of the film, while still being clearly sci-fi, was rooted in logic and presented as realistic - having him survive for that long in that state was anything but.
The problem is the "probably realized" part. You're proving that the first three quarters of the movie didn't set up any rational for Pinbaker, because the movie wasn't about t hat. I actually prefer the 4th quarter to the first three (makes sense as I'm not a sci-fi fan but a horror fan). But this movie promised fans in quarters 1-3 a 2001 space odyssey ride, then switch gears and gave them a "Heart of Darkness" ending. It was a bait a nd switch so I can understand why this film divides people.
I really don't know what he means about the aesthetic of the third act being completely detached from the rest of the film. Which is ironic considering his favorite character, Cliff's character is the exact same as the antagonist Mark Strong's character. Like literally. Both of them are deeply deeply obsessed with the sun - both recognize their finiteness as humans in the exact same way; Strong's character, "We are dust - nothing more." Cliff's character, "Hey Cappa, we're only stardust." And thirdly, both spent much time in their observation rooms burning themselves with sunlight. They both share a spiritual attitude towards the sun, with Strong's character becoming a religious fanatic, while Cliff's character retains his humility. Also, every moment Strong's character is on screen, the soundtrack is screeched and the camera blurred - as if painfully staring into the sun itself. The channel Like Stories of Old has an incredible video analysis of this film that I think puts into perspective why the final act fits just fine. Sorry to say but on this one, Tarantino doesn't know what he's talking about, or at least, missed some of the depth of the film's themes.
On the surface, Searle and Pinbacker's characters are strikingly similar but the main difference between the two is ego. Searle doesn't treat the Sun as a god even though he seems to have a stronger fasination with it than his crewmates. He understands that though mighty and powerful, the Sun is just another star going through the process of aging and that maybe there's a way to bring it back from the brink of dying. Pinbacker, however, does view the Sun as the almighty, the giver of life and death. To him no man can intervene with the actions of a god and puts it upon himself to make sure there is nothing standing in between him and his god. When you strip down the third act to its bare essentials, it's just another monster/slasher onboard. The first 2 acts were so fantastic in the way they made the audience fear for the crew that the 3rd act seems almost out of place
@@qwertyasdfg4962 Agreed. And it really is through the moments where Pinbacker isn't around in that final act that the gravity of before is captured again. The gravity that didn't need a monster or such to motivate things. Should have just kept things about their psychological states as they get closer and there is less air.
@@Raptor747 No. Pinbacker said on the tape they find on the first Icarus that if god decided to end humanity, nobody should challenge him. When Capa meets him in the observation room and says "my god" after seeing him Pinbackers disfigured body he responds with "Not your god. Mine." and attacks. So yes, he is an avatar for religion.
The problem is that the film does not properly dramatize the discussion of faith vs. science and more specifically to save the world (if science allows it) vs. to let the world die (if god demands it). That is a fantastic discussion to have. The film doesn't have it. It just alludes to it with a tiny video clip then spends 75% of the film not debating this issue (because NONE of the science-based characters ever have to debate anything or even express passionate views about science vs. religion) until an insane character comes at the eleventh hour for a few scant scenes and starts murdering people because the sun is his god. This is an example of a movie that wanted to say something and didn't utilize it's plot or characters to say it. The movie wasted this conversation so much that Tarantino, who isn't a dumb guy, actually feels the 4th quarter is a betrayal of the film even though the 4th quarter is the only quarter to attempt to dramatize the movie's theme. But why does that quarter fail? Because the first three quarters didn't set up the debate. It's like having a one sided conversation with people who weren't even talking to you.
@@wordcharm2649 the movie is flawed sure, the ending mostly, but give it credit where it suceeded, in building tension and effective characters, aswell as amazing visuals. The parts that harken back to 2001 and Alien work the best. Honestly, with Marvel and DC superhero nonsense dominating the scifi genre so completely these days, this type of film is a rarity that should be treasured
I gotta admit, quentins description of the feeling betrayed during the third act and yet overall quality based on the previous two is perfect. He should look at being the next siskel an Ebert style mainstream reviewer, he is on point and Never holds back but doesn't try and grandstand to be provocative.
Weird, I loved the ending. The whole movie was just "there will always be one more thing that will go wrong", and no one on the ship expected the insane captain of the first mission to start running around trying to kill all of them and sabotage the ship while they had so much else to worry about. When Michelle Yeoh was in the destroyed oxygen room and was feeling hopeful about seeing that plant that survived, she was definitely not expecting to get stabbed through the chest. Wish they went a little further with the whole "God wants us to die" thing, but the end still really worked for me
Ending was brilliant, pun intended, third act coul be reworked to get there. The notion of one man alone with the abyss/God, could have been fleshed out or alluded to earlier. Most perfect but imperfect film in the history of Sci-Fi to date. I forgive, it was a big bite. Lofty. Flew a little to close to the sun, is all..
Quentin pulling no punches while praising the many virtues of this movie. And he mirror my opinion from when I saw it in the theater way back in the day. Pity that Quentin does not mention Danny Boyle's musical choices, as both directors have a similar approach to soundtracks in their works. Fun fact: this film was released in Mexico six months before the United States. Usually it's the other way around for English-speaking movies, so that was very, very weird.
I really like the third act of Sunshine, and I don't think it betrays the writing of the first two acts at all. It feels appropriate, at least to me. Then again, I knew it was coming before I watched it, so maybe that's why I liked it.
I think the third act works. I HATE movies having to be formulaic or appealing to expectations. I think people go with SOOO many expectations around how a story should be told.........that they don't truly surrender to whatever the director is carrying you through. I thought it was quirky, added a bit of different emotional tone for a bit.......as something unexpected..........and is in line with the rollercoaster of emotions Boyle usually takes us in with his movies.
The movie is very unique up until the climax though, I don’t think it should be praised for just being surprising. I like the movie overall but introducing a super tough burned dude in the 3rd act totally conflicted with the rest of the tone, and not in a good way. If the 3rd act was different, but interesting me and others would like it better. They could have written the movie where the situation keeps getting worse in a different way. There is also lots of space physics issues with the movie but that’s a different discussion.
Interstellar bores the sh*t out of me, and also has a terrible third act - Sunshine is a masterpiece for its first two acts, almost ruined by its poorly fitting third act
Couldn’t agree more with QT here - the third act of the movie did seem hamhanded and didn’t quite fit the insanely good first two acts of the movie, but the first two acts were so good that they carried the film over the line along with Jon Murphy’s soundtrack - it’s a British movie that doesn’t feel British at all with the ensemble cast, but it does have a wonderful indie feel about it with Danny Boyle’s direction - very engaging movie, ALMOST ruined by its third act, but not quite - I highly recommend it
Just watched it for the first time, and I've found this review... I often don't agree with Tarantino's takes, but I think he nailed it here. The third act makes it a smarter, better crafted Event Horizon, but it could've been more subtle. Well, in my opinion 28 Days Later falls on its face in the third act too, so it must be a Garland thing.
In the film Solar Crisis, they also went to the sun, to divert a solar flare with a bomb. Good effects, good score, a couple of really good scenes (including a crew member sacrificing themselves to fix something in a highly irradiated part of the ship), good cinematography, horrible dialogue, clunky clunky "look ma! we've been badly recut" editing, cheap looking sets, a villain with incoherent motives, and a hodge-podge script that manages to waste the acting skills of Peter Boyle, Jack Palance, and Charlton Heston. Its one that I can say: is occasionally fun, holds no candle Sunshine, and is kinda surprising that Tarantino hasn't heard of. He's an obscure movie madman.
I think if we contemplate what this film showed us rather than what we expected, it is an easy 11 out of 10. It is reaching for such a level of transcendence that a bit of wiggle room should be given it. No work of art is perfect. The visuals, soundtrack, ambition, performances, sound design... they earn, for me, a huge amount of latitude for me to LISTEN to the film instead of TELL IT what I think. I find most analyses of Pinbacker (the burned captain) fall very flat - including Boyle's own, that he "obviously represents fundamentalism." I don't feel like that does any sort of justice. Instead I think it requires an act of imagination from the viewer (as all the best stories do). HOW could the captain/leader of humanity's most desperate mission be transformed into its destroyer? But it's really not that hard to follow that thread in your mind. To become the most important starship captain in history, one must have a strong ego and personality already. Then to hold all of humanity in your palms, completely removed from all contact with home for years on end... cooped up in deep space, with only the massive, all-consuming, godlike fire of the sun burning constantly in front of your eyes as you fall endlessly towards it... These are pressures and experiences that can and would permanently change anyone who experienced them first-hand. The film realistically represents the enormous psychological pressures on the crew of the Icarus II. It's really not hard for me to imagine Pinbacker's strong ego, under this relentless pressure, freed of contact from other humans for any points of reference, burned by first-hand contact with the godlike sun... just... metamorphosizing into a super-human self-regard, like a pure human ego separated from any sense of humanity he's very clear about his goal, in my mind. I see most people focusing on "god wants humanity to end" but, although he does say that, there's something more PERSONAL that he reveals: He wants to be the last human alive It's like the greatest trophy in history "I was the final human living in the entire universe" Doesn't that fit his narrative as a former human who has become nothing but burned, raw ego - disconnected from humanity - staring into the sun? Yet all the other characters have elements of this same story, they go in different directions. All the characters have their own strong egos and personalities. All face unyielding pressure. Each develops through that pressure in their own way, like different plants growing in the same garden. It's not about fundamentalism or religion to me, it's about the human ego, and how it responds to intense, unyielding pressure, and how small differences in character are magnified by this microscope of pressure, and when the pressure is so extreme and the isolation so great, there is almost no limit to what the ego might seek to do or to become in order to fully express itself and that thought circles like a snake eating its own tail, because the evolution of the individual ego is parallel with the evolution of the human race we all have the qualities of these characters, good and bad, in differing measures. But we all have them. We are all human. But honestly this is too many words, the film speaks for itself, just watch it (again) and let it wash over you like sunlight
This was a great read. Really well put. And I thought my pinbacker explanations were thorough, this just takes the cake lol. I agree with everything. I made a video on my channel about sunshine and the third act. Tried to explain some of the misunderstandings and misconceptions about the third act and pinbacker. In case you're interested!
Thank you for posting this. Its so frustrating when I see comments that say Pinbacker was religious . He was a pyschopath with an ego like you just described. Faith teaches us to love and care for one another.
Very good comment and analysis, my only issue however is that by the third act the foundations to come to this conclusion aren't properly set. There simply isn't enough focus put to fully flesh out this theme. It's such an interesting concept, but is obscured by the chaos and presentation of this character being essentially a slasher monster villain. Maybe if they delved into this topic more during the first and second act, having the payoff be the reveal of Pinbacker, the whole film would've flowed better and felt like it amounted to something appropriate. There simply wasn't that set-up though, hence why it felt like it didn't fully fit, leaving people divided.
Royal Warriors is my favorite!!! I totally looked past this reunion! Once he started talking about Michelle Yeoh, I started thinking no way he’s gonna say royal Warriors. The movie has amazing fight scenes. Thank you Quentin.
I just watched the movie for the first time, strange considering I've always liked both Boyle and Garland, but I really liked the third act too. The build up to what happened to Icarus I sets up something like it. The only thing I'm not so keen on is that it was suggested that there was something supernatural with Pinbacker, but it is never made clear, or did he just go insane?
I have a theory regarding the shakey camera in the third act, would pinbacker work as a scary villain if the camera was steady and you could see his burnt appearance fully? The camera is only steady with pinbacker is in frame when you can't really see him too well. I have a funny feeling that Danny Boyle and co did this intentionally and it worked for me but it obviously pulled a few people out.
Just watched Sunshine tonight. It was pretty fricken good. It is strange, though, that the movie explicitly makes fun of the monster killing the crew one by one trope and then just... Has a monster kill the crew one by one. Granted he doesn't directly kill Mace but still
Everything Tarantino criticizes about this third act is exactly why I love it. The incongruity of it, the sharp turn to pulp instead of intellect, the genre-switch. Genuinely didn't mind it that much, happy to be able to disagree with Quentin on this
The entirety of the conflict that occurs in the second act is due to the third act twist. I dunno without it you wouldnt have a movie that made any sense or strive to achieve any higher meaning
I agree with QT that it went tits-up in the third act (a bit like 28 days later) but still lots to recommend it, including the score and VFX. One small correction; the ship is called the Icarus 2 - that’s quite important as what happened to the Icarus 1 is a major plot point.
You can look at it in this way, Capa doesnt believe in god and isn't afraid of dying, while Pinbecker was driven insane by the sun which in certain tribes around the world believe its god. Science vs religion and that it was a tug of war between the crew and pinbecker. Capa really was afraid of dying but had to make the choice of completing the mission regardless of his beliefs. But then he came to a realization is that he literally met his maker (sun)...I look at it as jehovah's witness (pinbecker) was trying to convert Capa and capa found his own spiritual enlightenment at the very moment of his death. It's hard to explain the whole 3rd act unless you yourself right it down on paper and read between the lines. One of my friends gave a perfect reason why the 3rd act worked. And or you can take the 3rd act very literal and say a crazy man killed the crew and caps blew up a bomb the end.....I literally had to watch the movie x amount of times before it finally clicked. It definitely is a stroke of genius. It's just the way they went about it wasnt completely wrong. But it could have been done better. I think they were trying to go for something less obvious. But was too subtle. notice the way everyone died in the movie.The captain died saving the ship, but not before seeing the amazing power of the sun, Serle died getting to feel the sun one last time with the old crew, harvey.......well as much of a coward he was he just missed being home died the worst way. Suffocation, freezing, then being disintegrated, blah blah blah. But yeah.....
@@storageunit2683 The problem is that you can logically explain a story but if it's not executed well then it falls flat for the average person. I love the idea behind the movie, and can see glimmers of brilliance, but boy does it fall apart in so many fundamental areas. I literally haven't seen a film with this much of a budget that fails at the most basic things like character development, following through on promised conflict, setting up the philosophical stakes, actually dramatizing the theme. And its not like the director isn't aware. He said the main weakness was the film was trying to be too many films. Yup. 75% of it is 2001 space odyssey and the end is Heart of Darkness. And the "meaning" of the film isn't prominent enough so that the average viewer can discern it. It took me reading through many reviews to actually get it because I was so bored with the film. The meaning can be found in a few tiny scenes scattered in the film. Such a waste of potential!
@@wordcharm2649 please, the character development (except Pinbacker) is leagues above pretty much anything Marvel and DC have put out with their astronomical budgets, not to mention the collossal character building failures that are the Star Wars sequels, prequels and spinoffs like Rogue One. Sunshine had a by comparison miniscule budget of $32 million. And being inspired by different movie classics isnt a bad thing. Thats how art works, you take things that inspire you from great works and make a new stew out of it.
The trick to good scifi is audience sensation of what they're experience: It ties all the great scifi's together: Sensation. Kubrick, Interstella, sunshine, Alien. All had wicked texture, all gave the audience a deep taste of the environment.
Just watched it last night and totally agree. Also reminds me of my experience of The Beach. First 2 acts were great and then completely falls apart at the seams in the 3rd
I completely agree. The third act derails the movie for me, it loses all that intrigue, the feeling of desperation and the empty void of the space you feel watching the first 2 acts. It felt as if I was suddenly watching a totally different movie. What they achieved with a budget of $40m is incredible. It's still a good film, especially the first 2 acts but had they nailed the final act, Sunshine would've gone down as one of the best sci-fi films of all time.
HAD I written this i would have kept the sister ship on board for the mission, and then had a realization they did not have enough explosives in the first place and it was a hopeless vanity mission without the combined explosives it would have never worked in the first place, they all go down in a blaze of glory as i was attached to all the crew members trials and tribulations, no survivors.
I do not know if Pinnacle even is real. The lack of oxygen, the stream of consciousness editing, and the genersl themes of humanity vs nature makes me think otherwise. Regardless, it was one of the most intense movies I've seen.
I just made a review about this on my channel, going in depth into some of the issues people have with it. Particularly the pinbacker stuff. You should check it out! If you're interested of course.
@@Pivot-Shorts lmao I don't know if that's sarcasm, but I'm fairly new here and just trying to get my content out there however I can!! Mostly because I love this film And want to get my opinion out there!
@@dr.lionhunter9988 No genuinely. It's much better to answer comments that already have shown genuine interest in the topic. I might just check it out :)
That last trivia.. god, he’s such a nerd. Amazing. I totally agree with his criticism though. The final act is almost a betrayal. I wanted cosmic horror, and got a slasher. So disappointed. I imagine this story would do well as a book.
Yah i loved the final scene.. no matter how many times i have watched it, still a great ending to me! It's about savouring your mission, the dream uv had all your life and its beauty! And the sun giving Capa its warmest embrace as its thank you for saving it. It may not have happened physically, if u say it's scientifically impossible. Emotionally and mentally, that's probably what Capa was experiencing that very moment. It's the artistic genius of it, we gotta stop being so literal and just experience it.👌🏻
It's nonsensical garbage. A depiction of a scientific endeavor equal to a team of scientists trying to stop every nuclear device from exploding after they were all already fired simultaneously - by hunting down a whale and shoving a feather duster up its ass. Looking for higher meaning in that is like watching cheerleader porn for the sport team's path towards the championship.
I understand his viewpoint of the 3rd act, BUT, I believe it feels this way mostly because most foreshadowing was lost in the rest of the story development. If you pay really close attention to all of the foreshadowing leading up to it, the third act doesn’t come off as such a ham-fisted redirect. Just my own opinion though.
I agree with many of the comments here, about the end. I think it was perfect, because, the whole movie up to this point was like, scientific overload. And then suddenly psycho steps up and shows how none of that matters in the face of insanity.
I love this whole movie, including the 3rd act. And the scene where he touches to sun. I don’t care if it’s not scientifically accurate, the movie has a lot of emotion in it.
the only thing that bothers me scientifically is Chris Evans surviving the near absolute zero vacuum of space for like 10 seconds and then carrying on like nothing is wrong. Everything else is quite conceivable to me, and obviously the end is metaphorical, definitely get some Interstellar vibes that clearly influenced that film
@@frankmerker630 It's not too far fetched, people could survive that (though yeah, they probably wouldn't be looking or feeling too hot afterwards). The Expanse has some pretty good presentations of vaccum exposure. The most far-fetched thing was the instant freezing and turning into a space popsicle movie trope - it doesn't work that way in real life.
@@frankmerker630 You could survive complete vacuum for 10 seconds fairly easily. My problem was actually how quickly they froze. In reality they would be fine heat wise and would die of asphyxiation.
Dr Brian Cox was the scientific advisor on the film and did his own commentary, he addresses this point that the idea of people turning to ice instantly when in space is nonsense, you could survive for a few minutes.
Sunshine will always baffle me. Loved the first two-thirds. But then you have the terrible shaky-cam, unintelligible scenes and you can't understand what is happening. I wouldn't even have minded the monster guy if it wasn't for the way it was visually presented.
@MagnumTriumph This is honestly so true. I watched Sunshine for the first time a couple days ago, and although I thought the final act was weaker than the first two-thirds, I was still along for the ride. However, the camera movements, and the constant distortion to represent Pinbacker, made it so hard for me to tell what was going on. I also really didn’t even feel like they needed this plot point. They could have just introduced a new space related element to damage the ship, that the survivors would have to deal with, and we could get the same result. It’s also never made clear how Pinbacker even got on the ship in the first place, so idk. I still really liked this movie, but everything involving Pinbacker felt like a lesser movie.
@@aidenstockton1692 The whole damn movie had plot holes, "Yeeehah, cowboys to the rescue", and cheesy editing... But the last lart was abysmal. What the hell was that glowing "Pinbacker"? How the heck is he supposed to survive in that room full of sun-light? How the hell did he managed to become super-powerful? Also the whole editing, and camera work became so diabetical by the end, that i need to eat a bag of lemons. With peel on! Why haven't they portrayed him as a bad clever guy, who went insane due to isolation, or some kind of weird magnetic radiations, from being close to the sun? But without superpowers, and glow. The fact that people need supranatural "supervillains" to feel any kind of challenge, or emotional arc, is laughable, and shows how desensitized people have become to the real world. Man was not meant to thrive into space, but craftsmanship, and at huge odds, we managed to find a way. Overall a stupid, movie who had a plausible nice story, but was betrayed by lazy script, and corny LSD editing and camerawork, and effects. The fact that Ad Astra is rated lower than this childish movie, is appalling.
@@alakhazom you’re so brilliant I don’t understand how you’re not making movies yourself. I strongly urge you to submit your resume to all the major film studios so we can finally get some quality films to watch.
@@IndyMotoRider Thanks, for the sarcasm. It's still a poorly written movie, and they know it. Even big directors and writers get lazy, complacent, or misstep. The first part of the movie was okay, although not technically possible, the whole sun is dying we're gonna go close enough to trow a firecracker in so it can rekindle- i don't care about that. That's a supposition, that's like asking "what if" you're a few people meant to save the world, humanity last's hope. That's why we watch sci-fi movies, to find out how humanity will cope with their new environments, in a plausible future. I get it, we're watching a movie, and most great sci-fi movies have this "what if". I don't wanna watch a documentary, i wanna watch trials and tribulations in space. If it's rooted in reality, the more the merrier. But the movie simply gave up on itself, in the last part. And people know that. Like i said, the weird flashbacks, when they were docking on Icarus 1,was like, why? Then the magical being, mr "Ping", having his skin well done, but acquiring magic super-powers, comes "hazily" into play, to fuck everyone plans... Why the heck he has a glow. The characters in the movie are not hurt, or are looking from underwater. It's just a cheap plot to portray "mysticism". Why don't have him, switching lights off, cause he surrounded himself in darkness all these years, and his eyes became better in darkness. Heck, here's a plot idea, he was supposed to be humanity's official hope to save the all mighty sun, but he saw that sun can be also damaging, and realized that he hates the sunlight,and doesn't wanna save it ; it goes against the grain of the movie, Sunshine vs darkness. Here's someone who is highly skilled, but became engrossed with "Darkness"itself. But even on an emotional place, the story was all over the place. I liked the idea of the psychologist asking questions about the sun, watching it daily, being in love with it. Then when mr Samurai goes on a last stand to fix the roof tiles on the shield, he kept asking "What do you see". What was that supposed to mean? Should we see something special about the sun, closer we get, physically? What about the story between Capa and Mace(wtf his name was, the engineer). Mace has these mood swings, where one moment fights Capa, then he saves his life when they shoot from Icarus 1 back in their courtyard, then he goes and fights him again for setting the whole crue on a stupid path. It was hot and cold, done in a bipolar fashion. Anyways, too much of a rant. Like Quentin said, i felt cheated. I was promised one thing, and got another. The premise of the movie was great, but at the end it became a Bollywood production, with corny editing(Capas magical epiphany when he dies, so poetic), plotholes to make a kitchen strain jealous, and a crispy villain who can hold two people in his hand, while they rip his skin and muscles away. If you wanna watch a good scifi idea movie , watch The Man from Earth. It looks weird in the beginning, cause it's on a minuscule budget, but at the end leaves you wondering... How would it be like, to be like this man?
Have to disagree with Tarantino on Garland being the pulpy guy, if you watch Ex-Machina, Annihilation and Devs you can see Garland loves grounded sc-fi material. Also, Danny Boyle dissed on George A Romero? Saw 28 Days Later, that final act was pure Romero.
If Tarantino actually knew his films, he’d note that this was technically the third Boyle/ Garland movie at this point, as the novel of the Beach was written by Garland and subsequent turned into a movie by Boyle. 😉
Just saw it for the first time. Never saw reviews for it, I hated the third act. Took me out of the movie so hard. It was so over the top and ridiculous and the visuals and editing were too experimental and nauseating. Could barely even see what was happening. It basically ruined the movie in my eyes. You can have a crazy captain show up at the 11th hour to sabotage, but it was terrible execution.
A film on the verge of greatness only to be ruined by that pedestrian slasher movie third act. What were the creators thinking, I wonder. Did they fear that the cerebral story would be too boring for general audiences? Perhaps. But the solution to shoe horn this poorly executed horror sequence reminds me of Alien Covenant. So much promise yetp tragically disappointing.
Even if you accept the premise of the final act, an outer space version of the "mad captain" character we've seen in so many other films from Moby Dick to Apocalypse Now, its poor execution is what makes it a betrayal. Not only is it a poorly conceived idea but they couldn't even make it work on a stylistic level, resorting to cheap camera distortion effects and gore.
The third act really is terrible. I’ve never been so... blindsided and pulled out of a movie before. It almost feels like having some amazing appetizers for a feast, then someone brings out a plate with small turd on it and says, “this is the end of the meal, enjoy”
For most of human history, that was the case. But at this point, Quentin's statement is around a century and a half behind the times. It took many great minds a long time to decipher starlight and figure out that their color is related to temperature.
@@ernestolombardo5811 sure but the sun is still by far the most powerful object in our perceivable reality. All other stars are far away and only specks of light
![Quentin Tarantino on There Will Be Blood [2009]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ym_0IS0AUD0/mqdefault.jpg)
Quentin should attempt sci-fi. Seriously and as a major project. Like a homage to this phenomenal genre.
Yes but starship troopers has already been taken. He would have been perfect for that and could also have played the role General Carl Jenkins.
he needs a really good script to adapt
He was in talks to direct a Star Trek movie.
In fact still is. Can you imagine.
@@pakde8002 he could actually pull off a reboot
I was just thinking this the other day
I personally find the third act odd, however for me it works. Here's why:
We get to see a dramatic collision of parallel ideas which take on almost biblical appearances.
Capa, the Icarus II physicist, unafraid of death and willing to sacrifice himself to save everyone else and Pinpacker, the Icarus I captain, willing to sacrifice everyone for his own twisted comfort of belief.
Capa represents humanity's most honorable side, light itself. And for it and his bravery, he is rewarded by the Sun's welcoming touch. Pinbacker represents humanity's absolute worst, the abyss itself. Not only his "home" is a pitch-black ghost ship, whenever he is on screen, the image is blurred and twisted, culminating in a sequence of Capa looking down at Pinbacker, as if the manifestation of that abyss. Interestingly enough, the moment Pinbacker looks at the camera and claims it was not our place to challenge god, his eyes turn from normal to completely black, signifying it.
Lastly, when both meet each other, Pinbacker at first mistakes Capa to be an angel. While Pinbacker by all means is a complete opposite, a corrupted, charred, melted, disfigured evil demon.
That demon from the abyss is what accounts for many of humanity's failures. Selfishness over selflessness. If that wins, then indeed there will be nothing to ever show we were ever here.
Wow what an interesting theory. It actually makes a lot of sense. Never thought about the dark versus light but with pinbacker asking if he's an angel, really does put it into perspective. Well done. I did a review of the movie on my channel and tried to explain some of the misconceptions regarding the third act in case you're interested!
Awesome analysis. This untied a few mental knots and makes me appreciate the movie more
Nah, Capa's character is anything but. Dude makes critical mistake after critical mistake, so none of what you're arguing holds up. Capa's idea to get a second payload is horrendously stupid, he's banking on the Icarus I being perfectly and fully operational after 7 years of disappearing and failing its mission. This isn't just a huge gamble, the odds of this are astronomical. And of course, the film supports this by having this idea fail, resulting in the loss of their oxygen, 2 of the crew members, and pinbacker getting on board.
Then, once Capa realizes someone is on board the ship who shouldn't be there, consuming crucial oxygen, what does he do? Tell the other crew members? Sound some sort of alarm? Lock the intruder in the sun room until the crew can figure out what to do? No. He tells no one, and approaches the man to talk to him, getting badly cut, and allowing for pinbacker to escape, sabotage the ship, and kill 2 more of the crew.
Capa's character doesn't represent the hope of humanity, or its most honorable side, as you put it. Dude singlehandedly tried to mess up the mission over and over and over again. Every time Capa had a significant impact on the plot, the odds of the mission got worse. To the point that they had to sacrifice themselves to even deliver the payload. Worst character in the movie IMO, and that includes pinbacker, who should have never had an opportunity to board their ship in the first place.
I'm such a Tarantino fan I started using cocaine to keep up with his director's cut commentaries. It really helps.
Lmaoo
Careful, too much cocaine and you'd start enjoy Michael Bay movies.
'It really helps' LOL!!!
The flashes of the icarus 1 crews faces as they board their dark empty ship still haunt me. And I thought the thing that saved what would have been a standard 'monster on the ship' ending was the fact that trying to conceive of pinbackers headstate, and what he spent the last 7 years doing on a ghost ship in the vast emptiness of space gave more of a chill than any alien or monster could have.
Though I would be interested to see what Quentin would have done instead that would have reached the same dramatic heights. Hard to imagine what could replace that finally
That was one of the best horror inducing methods I've ever seen. So subtle, but so disturbing. Also, the sound of Icarus 1 distress beacon is a masterpiece, it is still giving me chills.
That's terrifying to think about.
I think that the introduction of Pinbaker was to me something great .He was a person that his initial ideals were to save humanity but through his journey probably realised that he disliked human existence and thought that nature itself wanted to annihilate us .It is like he felt that all the suffering in the world caused by human evil would seize to exist by destroying the mission that went against the will of nature or God if you will .That is how I see it
I 100% blame the editing on how Pinbacker is presented in the film. If it just depicted him clearly as some deranged demagogue on a derelict ship that got really badly sunburned and sabotaged his entire crew, it would be much more palpable to general audiences. Instead they went too hard in depicting him as a devilish ethereal entity that ultimately did a disservice to the film
@@frankmerker630 the editing was a bit like watching an indie film it didn’t look professional at all if you think how much the film costed
@@frankmerker630 Fully agree, it would have worked if the film hadn't used as many horror tropes in the end, down to having Pinbacker look like naked Freddy Krueger. So much of the film, while still being clearly sci-fi, was rooted in logic and presented as realistic - having him survive for that long in that state was anything but.
The problem is the "probably realized" part. You're proving that the first three quarters of the movie didn't set up any rational for Pinbaker, because the movie wasn't about t hat. I actually prefer the 4th quarter to the first three (makes sense as I'm not a sci-fi fan but a horror fan). But this movie promised fans in quarters 1-3 a 2001 space odyssey ride, then switch gears and gave them a "Heart of Darkness" ending. It was a bait a nd switch so I can understand why this film divides people.
I really don't know what he means about the aesthetic of the third act being completely detached from the rest of the film. Which is ironic considering his favorite character, Cliff's character is the exact same as the antagonist Mark Strong's character. Like literally. Both of them are deeply deeply obsessed with the sun - both recognize their finiteness as humans in the exact same way; Strong's character, "We are dust - nothing more." Cliff's character, "Hey Cappa, we're only stardust." And thirdly, both spent much time in their observation rooms burning themselves with sunlight. They both share a spiritual attitude towards the sun, with Strong's character becoming a religious fanatic, while Cliff's character retains his humility. Also, every moment Strong's character is on screen, the soundtrack is screeched and the camera blurred - as if painfully staring into the sun itself. The channel Like Stories of Old has an incredible video analysis of this film that I think puts into perspective why the final act fits just fine. Sorry to say but on this one, Tarantino doesn't know what he's talking about, or at least, missed some of the depth of the film's themes.
On the surface, Searle and Pinbacker's characters are strikingly similar but the main difference between the two is ego. Searle doesn't treat the Sun as a god even though he seems to have a stronger fasination with it than his crewmates. He understands that though mighty and powerful, the Sun is just another star going through the process of aging and that maybe there's a way to bring it back from the brink of dying. Pinbacker, however, does view the Sun as the almighty, the giver of life and death. To him no man can intervene with the actions of a god and puts it upon himself to make sure there is nothing standing in between him and his god. When you strip down the third act to its bare essentials, it's just another monster/slasher onboard. The first 2 acts were so fantastic in the way they made the audience fear for the crew that the 3rd act seems almost out of place
@@qwertyasdfg4962 Agreed. And it really is through the moments where Pinbacker isn't around in that final act that the gravity of before is captured again. The gravity that didn't need a monster or such to motivate things. Should have just kept things about their psychological states as they get closer and there is less air.
I genuinely loved the 3rd act of Sunshine, and no one can stop me from loving it.😈
Pinbacker wasn't a slasher killer. He was the personification of faith vs the personification of science and reason in Capa.
Eh...more like a personification of nihilism and insanity than faith.
@@Raptor747 No. Pinbacker said on the tape they find on the first Icarus that if god decided to end humanity, nobody should challenge him. When Capa meets him in the observation room and says "my god" after seeing him Pinbackers disfigured body he responds with "Not your god. Mine." and attacks. So yes, he is an avatar for religion.
@@possumGFX which could still be called insanity, since god is only a imaginary concept by definition
The problem is that the film does not properly dramatize the discussion of faith vs. science and more specifically to save the world (if science allows it) vs. to let the world die (if god demands it). That is a fantastic discussion to have. The film doesn't have it. It just alludes to it with a tiny video clip then spends 75% of the film not debating this issue (because NONE of the science-based characters ever have to debate anything or even express passionate views about science vs. religion) until an insane character comes at the eleventh hour for a few scant scenes and starts murdering people because the sun is his god. This is an example of a movie that wanted to say something and didn't utilize it's plot or characters to say it. The movie wasted this conversation so much that Tarantino, who isn't a dumb guy, actually feels the 4th quarter is a betrayal of the film even though the 4th quarter is the only quarter to attempt to dramatize the movie's theme. But why does that quarter fail? Because the first three quarters didn't set up the debate. It's like having a one sided conversation with people who weren't even talking to you.
@@wordcharm2649 the movie is flawed sure, the ending mostly, but give it credit where it suceeded, in building tension and effective characters, aswell as amazing visuals. The parts that harken back to 2001 and Alien work the best. Honestly, with Marvel and DC superhero nonsense dominating the scifi genre so completely these days, this type of film is a rarity that should be treasured
I watched Sunshine at a screening on Lowestoft beach in 2019, introduced by Danny Boyle himself. He was inspiring.
I gotta admit, quentins description of the feeling betrayed during the third act and yet overall quality based on the previous two is perfect. He should look at being the next siskel an Ebert style mainstream reviewer, he is on point and Never holds back but doesn't try and grandstand to be provocative.
it's not perfect since he didn't truly understand the 3rd act.
Weird, I loved the ending. The whole movie was just "there will always be one more thing that will go wrong", and no one on the ship expected the insane captain of the first mission to start running around trying to kill all of them and sabotage the ship while they had so much else to worry about. When Michelle Yeoh was in the destroyed oxygen room and was feeling hopeful about seeing that plant that survived, she was definitely not expecting to get stabbed through the chest. Wish they went a little further with the whole "God wants us to die" thing, but the end still really worked for me
Ending was brilliant, pun intended, third act coul be reworked to get there.
The notion of one man alone with the abyss/God, could have been fleshed out or alluded to earlier.
Most perfect but imperfect film in the history of Sci-Fi to date.
I forgive, it was a big bite. Lofty.
Flew a little to close to the sun, is all..
Quentin pulling no punches while praising the many virtues of this movie. And he mirror my opinion from when I saw it in the theater way back in the day. Pity that Quentin does not mention Danny Boyle's musical choices, as both directors have a similar approach to soundtracks in their works.
Fun fact: this film was released in Mexico six months before the United States. Usually it's the other way around for English-speaking movies, so that was very, very weird.
I really like the third act of Sunshine, and I don't think it betrays the writing of the first two acts at all. It feels appropriate, at least to me. Then again, I knew it was coming before I watched it, so maybe that's why I liked it.
I think the third act works. I HATE movies having to be formulaic or appealing to expectations. I think people go with SOOO many expectations around how a story should be told.........that they don't truly surrender to whatever the director is carrying you through.
I thought it was quirky, added a bit of different emotional tone for a bit.......as something unexpected..........and is in line with the rollercoaster of emotions Boyle usually takes us in with his movies.
The movie is very unique up until the climax though, I don’t think it should be praised for just being surprising. I like the movie overall but introducing a super tough burned dude in the 3rd act totally conflicted with the rest of the tone, and not in a good way. If the 3rd act was different, but interesting me and others would like it better. They could have written the movie where the situation keeps getting worse in a different way.
There is also lots of space physics issues with the movie but that’s a different discussion.
But the third act was the most predictable..? It felt like any other slasher film of the time.
@@firstlast-wg2on I don't even know what a slasher movie is. So maybe that's why it wasn't predictable to me.
I love “Yes, Madam” and “Royal Warriors” the action is so flawlessly framed and incredibly well-choreographed
I want a version of "The Surface of the Sun" where its played over Quentin reading the phone book.
0:10 Tarantino that's not true. The Beach is the second collaboration of Boyle and Garland
I'll always pick Sunshine over Interstellar, and by far
Based 🗿
Ironically I watched both of those tonight. They both kinda mid.
Interstellar bores the sh*t out of me, and also has a terrible third act - Sunshine is a masterpiece for its first two acts, almost ruined by its poorly fitting third act
Sunshine has a budget of 40 million ..i swear it looks better than 150 million dollar movie
Fair enough. I choose sunshine for emotion in terms of the human minds in the crew and what they go through but interstellar for personal enjoyment
I love this. The synopsis. The commentary. The thing about Roger Cormack.
I love this movie !!!
Couldn’t agree more with QT here - the third act of the movie did seem hamhanded and didn’t quite fit the insanely good first two acts of the movie, but the first two acts were so good that they carried the film over the line along with Jon Murphy’s soundtrack - it’s a British movie that doesn’t feel British at all with the ensemble cast, but it does have a wonderful indie feel about it with Danny Boyle’s direction - very engaging movie, ALMOST ruined by its third act, but not quite - I highly recommend it
Just watched it for the first time, and I've found this review... I often don't agree with Tarantino's takes, but I think he nailed it here. The third act makes it a smarter, better crafted Event Horizon, but it could've been more subtle. Well, in my opinion 28 Days Later falls on its face in the third act too, so it must be a Garland thing.
In the film Solar Crisis, they also went to the sun, to divert a solar flare with a bomb. Good effects, good score, a couple of really good scenes (including a crew member sacrificing themselves to fix something in a highly irradiated part of the ship), good cinematography, horrible dialogue, clunky clunky "look ma! we've been badly recut" editing, cheap looking sets, a villain with incoherent motives, and a hodge-podge script that manages to waste the acting skills of Peter Boyle, Jack Palance, and Charlton Heston. Its one that I can say: is occasionally fun, holds no candle Sunshine, and is kinda surprising that Tarantino hasn't heard of. He's an obscure movie madman.
yeah i remembered that movie while watching this, so long since I have seen it that I couldn't even remember the name of the film!
I think if we contemplate what this film showed us rather than what we expected, it is an easy 11 out of 10.
It is reaching for such a level of transcendence that a bit of wiggle room should be given it. No work of art is perfect.
The visuals, soundtrack, ambition, performances, sound design... they earn, for me, a huge amount of latitude for me to LISTEN to the film instead of TELL IT what I think.
I find most analyses of Pinbacker (the burned captain) fall very flat - including Boyle's own, that he "obviously represents fundamentalism." I don't feel like that does any sort of justice.
Instead I think it requires an act of imagination from the viewer (as all the best stories do).
HOW could the captain/leader of humanity's most desperate mission be transformed into its destroyer?
But it's really not that hard to follow that thread in your mind.
To become the most important starship captain in history, one must have a strong ego and personality already.
Then to hold all of humanity in your palms, completely removed from all contact with home for years on end... cooped up in deep space, with only the massive, all-consuming, godlike fire of the sun burning constantly in front of your eyes as you fall endlessly towards it...
These are pressures and experiences that can and would permanently change anyone who experienced them first-hand.
The film realistically represents the enormous psychological pressures on the crew of the Icarus II.
It's really not hard for me to imagine Pinbacker's strong ego, under this relentless pressure, freed of contact from other humans for any points of reference, burned by first-hand contact with the godlike sun... just... metamorphosizing into a super-human self-regard, like a pure human ego separated from any sense of humanity
he's very clear about his goal, in my mind. I see most people focusing on "god wants humanity to end" but, although he does say that, there's something more PERSONAL that he reveals:
He wants to be the last human alive
It's like the greatest trophy in history
"I was the final human living in the entire universe"
Doesn't that fit his narrative as a former human who has become nothing but burned, raw ego - disconnected from humanity - staring into the sun?
Yet all the other characters have elements of this same story, they go in different directions.
All the characters have their own strong egos and personalities.
All face unyielding pressure.
Each develops through that pressure in their own way, like different plants growing in the same garden.
It's not about fundamentalism or religion to me, it's about the human ego, and how it responds to intense, unyielding pressure, and how small differences in character are magnified by this microscope of pressure, and when the pressure is so extreme and the isolation so great, there is almost no limit to what the ego might seek to do or to become in order to fully express itself
and that thought circles like a snake eating its own tail, because the evolution of the individual ego is parallel with the evolution of the human race
we all have the qualities of these characters, good and bad, in differing measures. But we all have them. We are all human.
But honestly this is too many words, the film speaks for itself, just watch it (again) and let it wash over you like sunlight
This was a great read. Really well put. And I thought my pinbacker explanations were thorough, this just takes the cake lol. I agree with everything. I made a video on my channel about sunshine and the third act. Tried to explain some of the misunderstandings and misconceptions about the third act and pinbacker. In case you're interested!
Thank you for posting this. Its so frustrating when I see comments that say Pinbacker was religious . He was a pyschopath with an ego like you just described. Faith teaches us to love and care for one another.
Very good comment and analysis, my only issue however is that by the third act the foundations to come to this conclusion aren't properly set. There simply isn't enough focus put to fully flesh out this theme. It's such an interesting concept, but is obscured by the chaos and presentation of this character being essentially a slasher monster villain.
Maybe if they delved into this topic more during the first and second act, having the payoff be the reveal of Pinbacker, the whole film would've flowed better and felt like it amounted to something appropriate. There simply wasn't that set-up though, hence why it felt like it didn't fully fit, leaving people divided.
Royal Warriors is my favorite!!! I totally looked past this reunion! Once he started talking about Michelle Yeoh, I started thinking no way he’s gonna say royal Warriors. The movie has amazing fight scenes. Thank you Quentin.
it's a tragic irony that 'Sunshine' itself flies to close to the sun
I just watched the movie for the first time, strange considering I've always liked both Boyle and Garland, but I really liked the third act too. The build up to what happened to Icarus I sets up something like it. The only thing I'm not so keen on is that it was suggested that there was something supernatural with Pinbacker, but it is never made clear, or did he just go insane?
Went insane, nothing supernatural
Sunshine and Fight Club both use a certain technique and I absolutely love it
I have a theory regarding the shakey camera in the third act, would pinbacker work as a scary villain if the camera was steady and you could see his burnt appearance fully? The camera is only steady with pinbacker is in frame when you can't really see him too well. I have a funny feeling that Danny Boyle and co did this intentionally and it worked for me but it obviously pulled a few people out.
The cast of this film is umbelieve
I know we won't ever get it most likely but I'd still have loved to see QT do a scifi/futurist movie.
My favorite Science Fiction movie.
Just watched Sunshine tonight. It was pretty fricken good. It is strange, though, that the movie explicitly makes fun of the monster killing the crew one by one trope and then just... Has a monster kill the crew one by one. Granted he doesn't directly kill Mace but still
I just made a review about this on my channel, going in depth into some of the issues people have with it. Love this film. You should check it out!
Amazing sci fi..... Ok on the horror thriller side of it but still one of my top 10 movies loved it
Sunshine is my comfort film.
He's right!! The end doesn't live up to the first half ish.
Quentin Tarantino should make a film about a billion people working together to repair a Dyson Sphere.
Everything Tarantino criticizes about this third act is exactly why I love it. The incongruity of it, the sharp turn to pulp instead of intellect, the genre-switch. Genuinely didn't mind it that much, happy to be able to disagree with Quentin on this
The dumbing down
The entirety of the conflict that occurs in the second act is due to the third act twist. I dunno without it you wouldnt have a movie that made any sense or strive to achieve any higher meaning
I agree with QT that it went tits-up in the third act (a bit like 28 days later) but still lots to recommend it, including the score and VFX. One small correction; the ship is called the Icarus 2 - that’s quite important as what happened to the Icarus 1 is a major plot point.
The third act was a stroke of genius, but also widely misunderstood by most viewers, which is a fault in the filmmaking.
Explain please
You can look at it in this way, Capa doesnt believe in god and isn't afraid of dying, while Pinbecker was driven insane by the sun which in certain tribes around the world believe its god.
Science vs religion and that it was a tug of war between the crew and pinbecker.
Capa really was afraid of dying but had to make the choice of completing the mission regardless of his beliefs. But then he came to a realization is that he literally met his maker (sun)...I look at it as jehovah's witness (pinbecker) was trying to convert Capa and capa found his own spiritual enlightenment at the very moment of his death. It's hard to explain the whole 3rd act unless you yourself right it down on paper and read between the lines. One of my friends gave a perfect reason why the 3rd act worked. And or you can take the 3rd act very literal and say a crazy man killed the crew and caps blew up a bomb the end.....I literally had to watch the movie x amount of times before it finally clicked. It definitely is a stroke of genius. It's just the way they went about it wasnt completely wrong. But it could have been done better. I think they were trying to go for something less obvious. But was too subtle. notice the way everyone died in the movie.The captain died saving the ship, but not before seeing the amazing power of the sun,
Serle died getting to feel the sun one last time with the old crew, harvey.......well as much of a coward he was he just missed being home died the worst way. Suffocation, freezing, then being disintegrated, blah blah blah. But yeah.....
@@storageunit2683 The problem is that you can logically explain a story but if it's not executed well then it falls flat for the average person. I love the idea behind the movie, and can see glimmers of brilliance, but boy does it fall apart in so many fundamental areas. I literally haven't seen a film with this much of a budget that fails at the most basic things like character development, following through on promised conflict, setting up the philosophical stakes, actually dramatizing the theme. And its not like the director isn't aware. He said the main weakness was the film was trying to be too many films. Yup. 75% of it is 2001 space odyssey and the end is Heart of Darkness. And the "meaning" of the film isn't prominent enough so that the average viewer can discern it. It took me reading through many reviews to actually get it because I was so bored with the film. The meaning can be found in a few tiny scenes scattered in the film. Such a waste of potential!
@@wordcharm2649 please, the character development (except Pinbacker) is leagues above pretty much anything Marvel and DC have put out with their astronomical budgets, not to mention the collossal character building failures that are the Star Wars sequels, prequels and spinoffs like Rogue One. Sunshine had a by comparison miniscule budget of $32 million. And being inspired by different movie classics isnt a bad thing. Thats how art works, you take things that inspire you from great works and make a new stew out of it.
Just watch the Damn. Movie. Words cannot describe...only time Capt. America fights Scarecrow.
I loved the film from start to finish.
Space odyssey, Sunshine or Interstellar?
The trick to good scifi is audience sensation of what they're experience: It ties all the great scifi's together: Sensation. Kubrick, Interstella, sunshine, Alien. All had wicked texture, all gave the audience a deep taste of the environment.
Couldn't agree more with this review. That 3rd act completely took me out of the film. It was almost like watching a different movie.
Just watched it last night and totally agree. Also reminds me of my experience of The Beach. First 2 acts were great and then completely falls apart at the seams in the 3rd
Just finished the movie. That third act took me out big time.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and have seen it many times 👍
I just made a review about this on my channel, going in depth into some of the issues people have with it. Check it out if you're interested!
I completely agree. The third act derails the movie for me, it loses all that intrigue, the feeling of desperation and the empty void of the space you feel watching the first 2 acts. It felt as if I was suddenly watching a totally different movie. What they achieved with a budget of $40m is incredible. It's still a good film, especially the first 2 acts but had they nailed the final act, Sunshine would've gone down as one of the best sci-fi films of all time.
Where is this from?
HAD I written this i would have kept the sister ship on board for the mission, and then had a realization they did not have enough explosives in the first place and it was a hopeless vanity mission without the combined explosives it would have never worked in the first place, they all go down in a blaze of glory as i was attached to all the crew members trials and tribulations, no survivors.
3rd Collab including The Beach not 2nd.
S U N S H I N E is very underrated as fuck great movie one of my favorites :)
when you write it like that it resembles the how it was shown in the start scene. Love it!
So where is this audio taken from?
i thought the beach was a garland/boyle thing… so how come it‘s the second… i count 3…
what is this commentary from?
Pinbacker wasn't a monster though, he was a man
I do not know if Pinnacle even is real. The lack of oxygen, the stream of consciousness editing, and the genersl themes of humanity vs nature makes me think otherwise. Regardless, it was one of the most intense movies I've seen.
I just made a review about this on my channel, going in depth into some of the issues people have with it. Particularly the pinbacker stuff. You should check it out! If you're interested of course.
@@dr.lionhunter9988 This is the correct way of going about advertising in RUclips comments, fair play.
@@Pivot-Shorts lmao I don't know if that's sarcasm, but I'm fairly new here and just trying to get my content out there however I can!! Mostly because I love this film And want to get my opinion out there!
@@dr.lionhunter9988 No genuinely. It's much better to answer comments that already have shown genuine interest in the topic. I might just check it out :)
Reminds me somewhat of Forbidden Planet since the monster, in both, is humanity.
This is one of the few known incidences where Tarantino isn't shouting
One of those movies I feel isn’t talked about when people mention great sci-fi movies.
Sunshine & The Island movies were really good movies worth watching, but unfortunately got not too much attention from the sci-fi community.
That last trivia.. god, he’s such a nerd. Amazing.
I totally agree with his criticism though. The final act is almost a betrayal. I wanted cosmic horror, and got a slasher. So disappointed. I imagine this story would do well as a book.
The third act would have worked if the dude wasn't a monster and instead had just lost his mind from cabin fever
He's not a monster tho, just a man who lost his mind
Yah i loved the final scene.. no matter how many times i have watched it, still a great ending to me! It's about savouring your mission, the dream uv had all your life and its beauty! And the sun giving Capa its warmest embrace as its thank you for saving it. It may not have happened physically, if u say it's scientifically impossible. Emotionally and mentally, that's probably what Capa was experiencing that very moment. It's the artistic genius of it, we gotta stop being so literal and just experience it.👌🏻
It's nonsensical garbage.
A depiction of a scientific endeavor equal to a team of scientists trying to stop every nuclear device from exploding after they were all already fired simultaneously - by hunting down a whale and shoving a feather duster up its ass.
Looking for higher meaning in that is like watching cheerleader porn for the sport team's path towards the championship.
Forget sunshines, tarrsntono is a treasure trove of friggin knowledge. Like data from star trek. It's scary.
Star Trek 4 used the Sun.
I understand his viewpoint of the 3rd act, BUT, I believe it feels this way mostly because most foreshadowing was lost in the rest of the story development. If you pay really close attention to all of the foreshadowing leading up to it, the third act doesn’t come off as such a ham-fisted redirect. Just my own opinion though.
Get tae!!! All three acts are superb just as they are.
I agree with many of the comments here, about the end.
I think it was perfect, because, the whole movie up to this point was like, scientific overload. And then suddenly psycho steps up and shows how none of that matters in the face of insanity.
I love this whole movie, including the 3rd act. And the scene where he touches to sun. I don’t care if it’s not scientifically accurate, the movie has a lot of emotion in it.
the only thing that bothers me scientifically is Chris Evans surviving the near absolute zero vacuum of space for like 10 seconds and then carrying on like nothing is wrong. Everything else is quite conceivable to me, and obviously the end is metaphorical, definitely get some Interstellar vibes that clearly influenced that film
@@frankmerker630 didn't you see his blue lips lol
@@frankmerker630 It's not too far fetched, people could survive that (though yeah, they probably wouldn't be looking or feeling too hot afterwards). The Expanse has some pretty good presentations of vaccum exposure. The most far-fetched thing was the instant freezing and turning into a space popsicle movie trope - it doesn't work that way in real life.
@@frankmerker630 You could survive complete vacuum for 10 seconds fairly easily. My problem was actually how quickly they froze. In reality they would be fine heat wise and would die of asphyxiation.
Dr Brian Cox was the scientific advisor on the film and did his own commentary, he addresses this point that the idea of people turning to ice instantly when in space is nonsense, you could survive for a few minutes.
this is a 2007 movie
Eventually, in the end, the last obstacle they faced was humanity itself. The worst kind even! The passionately religious kind.
Galaxy of Terror > Sunshine’s 3rd Act???
Sunshine will always baffle me. Loved the first two-thirds. But then you have the terrible shaky-cam, unintelligible scenes and you can't understand what is happening. I wouldn't even have minded the monster guy if it wasn't for the way it was visually presented.
@MagnumTriumph This is honestly so true. I watched Sunshine for the first time a couple days ago, and although I thought the final act was weaker than the first two-thirds, I was still along for the ride. However, the camera movements, and the constant distortion to represent Pinbacker, made it so hard for me to tell what was going on. I also really didn’t even feel like they needed this plot point. They could have just introduced a new space related element to damage the ship, that the survivors would have to deal with, and we could get the same result. It’s also never made clear how Pinbacker even got on the ship in the first place, so idk. I still really liked this movie, but everything involving Pinbacker felt like a lesser movie.
@@aidenstockton1692 The whole damn movie had plot holes, "Yeeehah, cowboys to the rescue", and cheesy editing... But the last lart was abysmal. What the hell was that glowing "Pinbacker"? How the heck is he supposed to survive in that room full of sun-light? How the hell did he managed to become super-powerful? Also the whole editing, and camera work became so diabetical by the end, that i need to eat a bag of lemons. With peel on!
Why haven't they portrayed him as a bad clever guy, who went insane due to isolation, or some kind of weird magnetic radiations, from being close to the sun? But without superpowers, and glow.
The fact that people need supranatural "supervillains" to feel any kind of challenge, or emotional arc, is laughable, and shows how desensitized people have become to the real world.
Man was not meant to thrive into space, but craftsmanship, and at huge odds, we managed to find a way. Overall a stupid, movie who had a plausible nice story, but was betrayed by lazy script, and corny LSD editing and camerawork, and effects.
The fact that Ad Astra is rated lower than this childish movie, is appalling.
@@alakhazom you’re so brilliant I don’t understand how you’re not making movies yourself. I strongly urge you to submit your resume to all the major film studios so we can finally get some quality films to watch.
@@IndyMotoRider Thanks, for the sarcasm.
It's still a poorly written movie, and they know it. Even big directors and writers get lazy, complacent, or misstep.
The first part of the movie was okay, although not technically possible, the whole sun is dying we're gonna go close enough to trow a firecracker in so it can rekindle- i don't care about that. That's a supposition, that's like asking "what if" you're a few people meant to save the world, humanity last's hope. That's why we watch sci-fi movies, to find out how humanity will cope with their new environments, in a plausible future. I get it, we're watching a movie, and most great sci-fi movies have this "what if".
I don't wanna watch a documentary, i wanna watch trials and tribulations in space. If it's rooted in reality, the more the merrier.
But the movie simply gave up on itself, in the last part. And people know that. Like i said, the weird flashbacks, when they were docking on Icarus 1,was like, why? Then the magical being, mr "Ping", having his skin well done, but acquiring magic super-powers, comes "hazily" into play, to fuck everyone plans... Why the heck he has a glow. The characters in the movie are not hurt, or are looking from underwater. It's just a cheap plot to portray "mysticism". Why don't have him, switching lights off, cause he surrounded himself in darkness all these years, and his eyes became better in darkness. Heck, here's a plot idea, he was supposed to be humanity's official hope to save the all mighty sun, but he saw that sun can be also damaging, and realized that he hates the sunlight,and doesn't wanna save it
; it goes against the grain of the movie, Sunshine vs darkness. Here's someone who is highly skilled, but became engrossed with "Darkness"itself.
But even on an emotional place, the story was all over the place.
I liked the idea of the psychologist asking questions about the sun, watching it daily, being in love with it. Then when mr Samurai goes on a last stand to fix the roof tiles on the shield, he kept asking "What do you see".
What was that supposed to mean? Should we see something special about the sun, closer we get, physically?
What about the story between Capa and Mace(wtf his name was, the engineer). Mace has these mood swings, where one moment fights Capa, then he saves his life when they shoot from Icarus 1 back in their courtyard, then he goes and fights him again for setting the whole crue on a stupid path. It was hot and cold, done in a bipolar fashion.
Anyways, too much of a rant. Like Quentin said, i felt cheated. I was promised one thing, and got another.
The premise of the movie was great, but at the end it became a Bollywood production, with corny editing(Capas magical epiphany when he dies, so poetic), plotholes to make a kitchen strain jealous, and a crispy villain who can hold two people in his hand, while they rip his skin and muscles away.
If you wanna watch a good scifi idea movie , watch The Man from Earth. It looks weird in the beginning, cause it's on a minuscule budget, but at the end leaves you wondering... How would it be like, to be like this man?
@@alakhazom I'll agree that the end was shit but I enjoyed everything up until the weirdness with the burned guy.
Have to disagree with Tarantino on Garland being the pulpy guy, if you watch Ex-Machina, Annihilation and Devs you can see Garland loves grounded sc-fi material. Also, Danny Boyle dissed on George A Romero? Saw 28 Days Later, that final act was pure Romero.
That’s literally what he said
Annihilation was good until the ending.
This interview is from way before those movies were made so how else was he gonna know.
Tarantino should work with Murohy
If Tarantino actually knew his films, he’d note that this was technically the third Boyle/ Garland movie at this point, as the novel of the Beach was written by Garland and subsequent turned into a movie by Boyle. 😉
‘Get out of my brain!’
Just saw it for the first time. Never saw reviews for it, I hated the third act. Took me out of the movie so hard. It was so over the top and ridiculous and the visuals and editing were too experimental and nauseating. Could barely even see what was happening. It basically ruined the movie in my eyes. You can have a crazy captain show up at the 11th hour to sabotage, but it was terrible execution.
He talks like hes in a tarantino film.
Why do you think that is
@@BruceWayne-zj1kw watch the video
@@BruceWayne-zj1kw I think because he is Quentin Tarantino
The cast is a bunch of MARVEL characters now, lol
Ouch.
A film on the verge of greatness only to be ruined by that pedestrian slasher movie third act. What were the creators thinking, I wonder. Did they fear that the cerebral story would be too boring for general audiences? Perhaps. But the solution to shoe horn this poorly executed horror sequence reminds me of Alien Covenant. So much promise yetp tragically disappointing.
It's a scam, this is not Tarantino.
Nice try.
if pinbacker wasnt real how he kill cora
Even if you accept the premise of the final act, an outer space version of the "mad captain" character we've seen in so many other films from Moby Dick to Apocalypse Now, its poor execution is what makes it a betrayal. Not only is it a poorly conceived idea but they couldn't even make it work on a stylistic level, resorting to cheap camera distortion effects and gore.
The third act really is terrible. I’ve never been so... blindsided and pulled out of a movie before. It almost feels like having some amazing appetizers for a feast, then someone brings out a plate with small turd on it and says, “this is the end of the meal, enjoy”
not terrible if you undertand the metaphors
Great film except for the ending which is a straight rip off of another well known SF film.
Yeah which movie? I wanna watch it lol
@Ash 777 I believe he's referring to Event Horizon
@@Deadpool784 Event Horizon
@@StoryOfUsFinalDraft in what way does it rip off Event Horizon? I've seen both and don't see it
@@xomthood in no way. the people above don't know what they are talking about
Haha I love Tarantino but the sun isn't even close 2 "the most powerful object in our known existence" 🤣
You know what he meant, it’s the most powerful thing in our solar system and most people don’t think of the grand scale of things.
wow you're so smart bro
For most of human history, that was the case. But at this point, Quentin's statement is around a century and a half behind the times. It took many great minds a long time to decipher starlight and figure out that their color is related to temperature.
@@ernestolombardo5811 sure but the sun is still by far the most powerful object in our perceivable reality. All other stars are far away and only specks of light
My cock is
I love the first 2 acts of this movie but the slasher ending doesn't work for me.
this movie has too many logical issues
Tarantino should stick to reviewing cuz he sure can't make anything good himself
you're kidding right? He's one of the greatest movie creators out there.
@ChrisTuckerexpress dont feed the trolls
You probably have a problem with his dialogue don’t you?
@ChrisTuckerexpress I agree he has made many good movies, but I wouldn't use oscars for an argument, the oscars have become irrelevant.
@ChrisTuckerexpress None of your argument points to the substance of his work but rather its reception. Bad argument
He's right!! The end doesn't live up to the first half ish.
But the very last scene with Capa looks directly into the sun is symbolic.
A non believer sees god within a ball of plasma