| Overall Grade: |
A- |
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| Story: |
B |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
A- |
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| Visuals: |
A- |
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Great Sci Fi Movie
by Guanxiong M (movies profile)
Jun 24, 2008
14
of
17 people found this review helpful
This movie had a lot of flair and created a very intense mood that really helps the audience sympathsize the desperation of this crew to save the earth. It is a good example of a realistic sci fi movie and intermingles plot elements from a psychological thriller (the deep space part, plus the fact that the crew are earth's last chance because apparently they mined all the weapon grade radioactive ore from the earth to create a bomb the size of Manhattan). The plot is straightforward and doesn't try to really shock you (which usually fails for most films); I won't give away all the little surprises but suffice to say, the story has a happy ending teh crew experiences a lot of "***** happens" along the way. Although the plot toward the end is a bit predictable, the presentation is excellent and you never get the feel during any point that there was some unnecessary flashy special effects seen for the sake of special effects (that occurs so so often in modern big budget sci fi blockbusters designed to reel in profit). In fact, the fx views of the sun, the spaceship, and outerspace in general appear very realistic; you'd never know how small the budget of this movie really was (<50 mil !). The characters are pretty well developped especially Kappa. The movie's brilliance is it's feeling of coherence--how the fx shots, the characters, the mood, all add synergistically to this intense plot to save the earth that is realistic and respects the maturity of the audience. The directors adds in a lot of psychologic subplots involving blame, guilt, frustration, and anxiety in the crew interactions that intensify the sense of urgency and help us, the viewers, actually feel involved in the crew's mission to blow up (reignite) the sun.
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie for it's purity and realism. Though it's plot is actually pretty straightforward and predictable, the style and set design (spaceship) makes the experience believable as something that could happen rather than something that was madeup in hollywood purely to make money. Truthfully, a movie doesn't need a ultra complex, infinitely windy, full of surprises plot to get the audience involved: just one that makes sense, is self consistent, and complete to some extent. Although I can't really vouch for the accuracy of some of the sci fi statements (like blowing up the sun; sounds familiar? remember that movie The Core that flopped? that movie was a classic example of a scifi blockbuster made because people wanted to be paid), I can say that the director organized the film with integrity and care so that it should satisfy even the most avid sci fi geek like myself. |
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