Sunshine, the early editions
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yojimboy — 18 years ago(November 22, 2007 09:04 PM)
I totally agree with you. Both "28 Days Later" and "Sunshine" have the exact same ending. After a mysterious and at least somewhat thoughtful first two-thirds, both movies turn into slasher films in which an insane person with semi-superhuman killing abilities sneaks around and jumps out of the dark killing people. I was disgusted when the movie turned that direction. I was expecting "2001" and got "Friday the 13th."
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ferlie_burns — 18 years ago(December 16, 2007 10:47 AM)
I would say the point of the abrupt tonal shifts and slaughter house endings of 28 Days Later and Sunshine is that no one gets away clean; or, gets away at all, for that matter. This is a predominant theme in Boyle's work: the world is neither a kind nor forgiving place, the majority of our lives are governed by chance, we're all going to die, nothing has any inherent meaning, and inevitability, manifested by the killers in 28 Days Later and Sunshine, the "tourists" who get killed in The Beach, and Tommy's death of AIDS in Trainspotting, is always lurking, no matter the delusions we allow ourselves to accept.
As far as Garland is concerned - and I say this as a huge fan and admirer of his work for the last ten years - the plot and characters of his work are very rarely the central focus; or, that story is not what's "actually" going on. If you look at The Beach, The Tesseract, 28 Days Later, and Sunshine (I haven't read Coma yet), each is a huge, exploratory metaphor for something much deeper, that exists beyond the story. As has been pointed out myriad times, 28 Days Later is by-and-large a compilation of scenes from everything from Romero to The Omega Man. That's not the point of the film. What he is attempting to explore -and this is opinion, not fact - is the fundamental question of why we exist and what meaning is there to be found. Jim is "birthed" in the beginning of the movie and, in the original ending, dies. The in between is his search for meaning and purpose. Sunshine is, as I see it, a metaphor for the workings of the human mind within a completely irrational system which we try to prescribe cohesion to for our own peace of mind. Consider: the space ship (the human mind), is a logical, constructed (and therefore, in opposition to the natural, fallacious), sound vessel that is a construct of human civilization. It floats through space, dwarfed by an infinite expanse of nothing. Inside, the characters run around trying to deduce meaning and theory, a futile effort thats absurdity is highlighted by the endless nothing they're surrounded by. The deeper philosophical ramifications of Sunshine can be found in the character of the psychologist, a physical being who starts to fray when inundated with sun light, whose solid existence looses meaning and mass when confronted with the complete diffusion of light, which he becomes a part of. Thus, the mind begins to fray when confronted with the endless immaterial nature of everything we try to pin down, box in, and sand to a sheen.
This may very well be faux-intellectual b.s. I may be thinking too hard about things that merit only surface observations, but I love what and how Garland writes, and I can't help but think that if these things are so obviously deducible from his work, they must to some degree be intentional. -
technofunkie — 18 years ago(February 16, 2008 04:12 PM)
I am not sure I would agree with your first paragraph ferlie burns. Danny Boyle films are always very dark but do almost all the time have a happy or optimistic ending which kind of reassure us that even in the a world where so much horrible stuff can happen in the end we can over come it.
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MolotovCocktail — 18 years ago(February 19, 2008 11:25 AM)
I personally don't need to be reassured in literature and film. It just leads to hack endings.
IMDB Breeds Stupidity
http://thewo.blogspot.com -
dispenser — 18 years ago(March 03, 2008 06:09 PM)
I'll chime in
I didn't like aspects of the endings from both "28 Days Later" (didn't buy that the British troops would turn uniformly crazy and evil, and so quickly) and "Sunshine" (didn't buy the villain's origins or superhuman abilities or like that it turned into a hacker flick), however I still loved both movies immensely.
Not s5b4ure if it's the writer or the director or both that should get the credit, but both films gave me a real sense of "being there", of living the dark thrills the heroes endured. The loneliness, the logical behavoir, the self-sacrifice, and the desire to keep surviving even though hope appears lost were also large parts of why I enjoyed them so. -
HansLandasBingoWings — 17 years ago(July 14, 2008 10:27 AM)
Didn't buy that the British troops would turn crazy and evil so quicklybloody hell, what planet are you living on? From the squaddies I've met I think its a very close call whether the army is the best place for them, or a fecking psychiatric ward!
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dispenser — 17 years ago(September 21, 2008 07:30 PM)
Well, maybe you're right about British troops. I only know American troops and the average group of them wouldn't behave like this.
And before you being your reply with "what planet are you living on" take a deep breath and think of a new opening. -
uglyredhill — 17 years ago(December 22, 2008 02:58 AM)
The deeper philosophical ramifications of Sunshine can be found in the character of the psychologist, a physical being who starts to fray when inundated with sun light, whose solid existence looses meaning and mass when confronted with the complete diffusion of light, which he becomes a part of. Thus, the mind begins to fray when confronted with the endless immaterial nature of everything we try to pin down, box in, and sand to a sheen.
Ferlie almost convinces me here, but the movie still has a dumb outcome. How about this: he's not a murderous maniac, but instead stays on Icarus I, while the crew of Icarus II moves on with their mission, disturbed by what he's turned into? (becoming physically strange is one thing; why did we need the superhuman stuff?)
I suspect this sort of thing is beyond Garland's ability. I felt the same way about 28 Days Later, though what's interesting is that Shallow Grave had a similar creep mankiller outcome, which Garland of course didn't write. I think both he and Boyle have problems and they don't cohere well, despite ambition and design talent. -
mitsub001-1 — 18 years ago(March 11, 2008 05:38 PM)
As I finish watching in awe Sunshine for the 6th time and enjoying more each time, I think to myself how this movie will stay in my top 20 movies list forever.then I read as you talentless hacks who have never written and successfully sold a screenplay that has been filmed and sold just tear apart this great film.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and opinions are not fact, I know. However, while stating "I did not like it" seems fair, criticizing a movie like it personally hurt your mother seems beyond ridiculous. I never understood why there is a popular need to not only tell people you did not enjoy it, but to do everything in your power to try to get people not to see it for themselves. It's like censorship in that I can see some of you getting genuinely angry if someone you cared about liked this movie.
With few exceptions, I pity most of the posters on this website. With all the crap in the world, here is one industry that is only trying to entertainand some of you just sh** all over them. How proud you must be. -
MolotovCocktail — 18 years ago(March 17, 2008 12:34 PM)
You're right I never sold a screen play. I've sold three. But I don't need to defend myself to a guy that thinks the industry is only trying to entertain or rather should only try to entertain. Go ahead and sh** on people for wanting more out of movies than hacky bits, recycled themes and weak hollywood endings. Yes we are all stupid. Let's all run out to the theaters to see ID4 part two. I hear the special effects are amazing.
Garland has issues ending his scripts. It's no secret. Look at the original ending of 28 Days they wanted to shoot where they gave the dad a blood transfusion to save him. It just doesn't make sense. I'm not saying he's a bad writer. I love his books, and more often then not Hollywood eff's them up completely in translation. But he must be held accountable for his scripts.
And I like 28 Days Later.
Sunshine? Predictable. Nothing new.
IMDB Breeds Stupidity
http://thewo.blogspot.com -
Jonathan_I — 18 years ago(April 05, 2008 12:56 PM)
Replying to the original posters message, I too would like to find one of the earlier drafts of Sunshine.
And like the original poster, I felt that what started off as a great - and most of all, smart - what-if movie, it turned into a mediocre bore by the time the final reels kicked into play. It not only threw out the little logic it had going for it, it went completely bananas tonally and thematically.
It would be an interesting read to compare the earlier drafts and their endings with the one we have in the finished product and see if the results improve. After all, as Boyle and Garland both admitted, it was a troubled production that stretched on and on, and with 35 drafts of anything, you're bound to lose focus on what you originally set out to do.