The Skinny:
A team of astronauts are sent to re-ignite the sun.

The Good:
This movie was made by Danny Boyle, whose past work (such as 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later) I loved, so I was excited to see this film. The first act of the film was really enjoyable because it does a good job of setting up the fact that these astronauts are in for a bumpy ride. And it’s unclear whether the crew’s difficulties will include natural disasters, conflicts among themselves, or perhaps some sort of alien villains.

The Bad:
Without ruining any surprises, I can say that the crew’s difficulties are the focus of the film, but unfortunately the handling of those difficulties is really poor. There are several scenes where potentially interesting conflicts were setup, but then those conflicts were either not followed up on, or completed in a way that lacked any real tension or drama.

This is made worse from the fact that the actors are more or less just character placeholders. They aren’t developed or given any back story, so it’s really hard to give a rip about them. Cillian Murphy was the only face I recognized, and though I still don’t know how I feel about his acting, his scratchy hushed-tone voiceovers made me want to get hearing aids.

The Ugly:
The final “challenge” for the crew was pretty far out of left field. I started laughing and half-expected to hear “Jason-Jason-Jason-Jason-kill-kill-kill-kill!”

The Bottom Line:
This movie made me thankful for the sun, as well as the stop button on my DVD player.

Score:

Technorati tags: ,