Doug Cummings turned in his last batch of reviews from the Los Angeles Film Festival today, and they include his response to Danny Boyle’s sci-fi thriller Sunshine.
I’ve heard from one of you that Danny Boyle’s Sunshine is the best film you’ve seen this year.
Cummings disagrees.
I couldn’t have been more disappointed by the film, which I found to be tedious, empty, and a complete waste of time. Sure, it’s got elaborate digital effects, great set design, and a thundering soundtrack, but what doesn’t these days? Rather than a partly philosophical piece, the film plays like a cross between a disaster film and a slasher movie. It has a pretty ridiculous premise that is never remotely developed…
…
The film’s ultimate function is to showcase its effects and shocks as it devises more and more elaborate ways of killing characters in visually appealing and heart-stopping ways. It has fewer ideas than Children of Men, which is saying something (or an average episode of Star Trek). And its technical accomplishment … only intensifies its inanity: it’s a digital drug, pure and simple, hoping you’ll leave the theater breathless before forgetting about it completely and moving on to dinner.
I haven’t seen it yet.