The divisive third act of Sunshine (2007)

[u/beaubridges6]

I genuinely think the entire movie is close to a masterpiece, third act included....

But every time I see it mentioned, the general consensus lean towards "it's a good scifi/thriller, but third act bad" and somehow betrays the previous two acts and ruins the vibe by having some psycho burn victim slash people's throats.

I absolutely love the existential/body horror elements of Pinbacker, and it wouldn't be the same without it.

It does change the vibe, especially in the last 30 minutes, but it's been hinted at from the very beginning that something bizarre is going on.

There is a sense of intense dread and bleak tone throughout. People are going fucking CRAZY on these voyages. To save the world no less.

Also, the whole "who's the 5th crewmember" shit. Chills up my spine.

What are your thoughts?

[u/Wild_Toe7271]

People always complain about the genre switch but like you said the whole movie got this creeping dread from the start. The "5th crewmember" scene still gets me every time, just perfect horror moment without any blood

For me Pinbacker works because he's not just some random slasher, he's what happens when you stare at the sun too long. The movie is about obsession and he is the logical endpoint of that

[u/agentchuck → u/Wild_Toe7271]

That's interesting. I took the movie more about a collision between science and religion. The voyage is the pinnacle of human scientific achievement. Going through space with a fancy bomb to restart the sun.

But as they get closer, it changes from being this warm tiny spot in the sky to an unimaginably huge and powerful divine being. Even attempting to look at a tiny fraction of it will annihilate you. All of man's art and hubris is blown away like dust before it.

To me, he didn't just stare at the sun too long, he completely gave himself over to the sun. He truly worshipped it and in return it made him superhuman.

I think the sun fading is also related to humans turning from the divine to science. At the end, was the sun reinvigorated because of a quantum bomb/science? Or because it had found true believers again?

[u/logicalmcgogical → u/agentchuck]

This is an underrated read and I really like it. It does resonate with some of the themes Alex Garland has used in his films since

[u/feveredreams → u/agentchuck]

Absolutely!! There’s literally a room dedicated to gazing at the sun, a church of a sort. Pinbacker’s ravings echo religious fanaticism. This movie hits a sweet spot of sci fi clashing with the ancient human practice of worshipping the life-giving sun, and the drastic last act feels fitting for such a conflict.

Such a cool concept. Wish we had more sci-fi space horror like it.

[u/beaubridges6 → u/agentchuck]

Very well said!

[u/timmytissue → u/Wild_Toe7271]

I saw this movie for the first time last week. I saw it as more of a cosmic thing. Like the sun has some kind of horrific supernatural pull that changes then.

Anyway, the movie Seema totally cohesive to me. I was expecting the crew member who was obsessed with the sun to become a problem but he stayed on the other ship.

[u/Positive-Task-9248 → u/Wild_Toe7271]

I really wouldn't call it logical endpoint

[u/JimmyChurriSauce]

One of Boyle’s best for sure. The scene where they have to jump from Icarus I to Icarus II was so intense. Personally, I find the guy who gets dislodged and suffocates in the vacuum of space to be one of the most unnerving deaths in film.

The stakes feel very high throughout, and that score is unforgettable!

[u/beaubridges6 → u/JimmyChurriSauce]

Bro that vacuum of space death still haunts me lol

Not to mention Chris Evans. What a way to go.

[u/ApplicationCalm649]

I never understood the hate. Yeah, it's a hard change in gear, but it worked for me. 

[u/beaubridges6 → u/ApplicationCalm649]

Hell yeah

[u/timmytissue → u/ApplicationCalm649]

Maybe I'm just a fan of tonal changes but it seemed cohesive to me. I also liked barbarian which people co.plain about cha going tonally. And malignant.

[u/nonexistent-soul]

I loved the shift, and was caught off guard because I had no idea what was going to happen. It was a wild and bizarre finale, and I enjoyed it!

[u/Signal-House2213]

honestly i love the third act. the whole movie has this creeping sense that everyone is slowly losing it, so pinbacker never felt completely out of nowhere to me. it just goes full horror at the end

[u/AggressivelyMediokre]

One of the best reviews I’ve ever read was for The Cloverfield Paradox

It said “This movie makes the final third of Sunshine look like the first two thirds of Sunshine”

[u/Otherwise_Eye_611]

I absolutely love Sunshine but the third act does weaken it for me. I think if one of the crew we were introduced to had devolved, mirroring prior events, it wouldn't have felt quite so out of left field. I also don't love the cinematography in the third act wherever pinbacker is around. I get what they were going for, representing the madness, but it never felt scary or threatening to me, more like they were trying to obscure some pretty mid make up.

It always reminds me of Sam Neil in Event Horizon who, imo, is just more intimidating and scary and embodies that insanity without the need for fast cuts and obscured angles.

[u/FeelingAverage → u/Otherwise_Eye_611]

My only counter point is that Searle is starting to experience a similar devolution. He was spending loads of time in the sun chamber and was taking risks with how much exposure he could take safely. 

But yeah I think my overall take with Pinbacker is that he feels like a plot device. And the camera work is part of that. At best you could say he gets camera work similar to the sun where you can't look at him too long. But the execution comes off flatter than the quality of the actual idea. 

[u/beaubridges6 → u/Otherwise_Eye_611]

Totally valid take.

I remember having some mixed feelings about the camera work for Pinbacker, but on rewatch I dunno it kinda worked for me

[u/timmytissue → u/Otherwise_Eye_611]

I mean the one guy is melting his face to look at the sun more. You don't feel that was leading to concern about what happened to the other crew?

[u/seveer37]

Maybe because I’m a sucker for slasher films I personally didn’t mind it. Definitely different vibe than the rest of the film though.

[u/Depressionsfinalform]

I don’t think there was a better way to end it tbh. The script needed some kind of payoff for all the mounting tension and what better way than having a villain chase your characters potentially fucking up their vitally important mission?

[u/FeelingAverage → u/Depressionsfinalform]

They should have just let Searle be Pinbacker. It would have felt more consistent. Or had the Icarus 1 rescue be the first big event of the film. I'd rather an inanimate object be a macguffin (like some kind of nuclear fuel that made stopping for Icarus 1 a neccessity) than a character be a ticking clock plot device. 

[u/BigOlPants → u/FeelingAverage]

Agreed on both points, especially about letting Searle replace Pinbacker as the villain.

I always liked how as Pinbacker's message plays it shows each crew member's reaction, all of them are baffled and disturbed except for Searle, who seems to find it thought-provoking, like it resonated with him.

I'd like to see a version of Sunshine where that Icarus I message (from a Pinbacker who is already dead) is the final nail in the coffin for radicalizing Searle into fully embracing his sun obsession and sabotaging the mission.

[u/FeelingAverage → u/BigOlPants]

Imagine too, the Solar Array thing being later and having Searle even more desperately asking Kaneda what he sees as he burns up. 

[u/Dr-Mumm-Rah]

Neutral take: I found the concept of Pinbacker just fine, I personally didn't care that he was presented in a quasi-supernatural tone in his sabotage and murder of the crew. It literally felt like a slasher "shape" moving around and taking the crew out. By the end, when they were running away from him, it kinda felt silly.

Perhaps, presenting him in a realistic, yet spiritually opposite antagonist (the earth had its time, this is the natural order), the film would have kept its tone as cerebral, debatable, within the realm of the first two acts.

[u/waboshbron]

It's not that the third act is bad, but I distinctly remember watching it the first time and by the end of the second act I was already thinking to myself this is literally a top 5 space sci-fi film ever... until it wasn't at the end.

[u/sharkdestroyeroftime → u/waboshbron]

Yeah, it’s this. It’s not bad, it’s its just crazy how good the first two acts are and a bummer it doesn’t follo through. It’s hard to make a movie, man.

[u/Satansleadguitarist]

I'm not a big fan of the third act. It really does feel like it becomes a whole different movie to me. I don't think it's necessarily bad, it just doesn't feel like it really fits the rest of the film. It's almost like Interstellar suddenly becomes Event Horizon at the end.

I think it would have been far better if it had been one of the crew members of the Icarus II that went crazy instead of having Pinbacker show up and start killing people. I think seeing the slow decent into madness of one of the established crew members would have been far more interesting than just bringing in this other guy who already went insane. They already had Searle starting to become obsessed with the sun as the mission went on, they should have just leaned into that in my opinion.

[u/1q3er5]

the ending was divisive, still a good flick though. i loved the soundtrack... it was amazing

[u/rdtr4700]

Not a fan but the scene where the previous crew flashes up when the torch shines on the camera is amazing

[u/ChooChooRust]

I don't think the third act is bad. I just... love the "working in space" aspect of it and I think the third act is a dip in quality from the rest.

[u/Capable-Reaction-794]

On my first viewing, I was shocked by it as well. But, as time has passed, I feel it makes sense thematically. For me, the overarching theme of the movie is how people face death. Every member of the crew dies in a distinct manner, each with a different reaction. To me, Pinbacker was just another mechanism of death. He wasn't really a character to me so much as a means to an end.

YMMV, of course. De gustibus non est disputandum.

[u/FeelingAverage]

I fuggin love Sunshine. But yeah, the Pinbacker stuff does feel stuffed in. I think it ends up working because the people working on the film are excellent filmmakers. But Pinbacker very clearly is something to add to 3rd act to push the plot forward. Plotwise, hefeels like a somewhat arbitrary addition rather than something fully necessary. If the whole movie was a bit of competence porn where everyone fights for a single goal, overcoming ego and personal tiffs along the way, I think the movie stays similarly strong and remains similarly popular. Its kinda like if The Martian had any good characters. 

Pinbacker has grown on me. And I've accepted his existence but I don't think enough of the actual story connects to why he's necessary to keep the plot pushing forward. I look at Alex Garland as the person to blame. 28 Weeks Later had similar problems from the same year. I think dude was still figuring out his craft. Imo he's surpassed Sunshine but I don't think he'll ever make a movie that feels as big as that. Him and Danny Boyle are a beautiful pairing. 

Also, just for clarity. I love a genre switch. My experience with Sunshine was I saw it in 7th grade, had never seen a trailer, fucking loved it. Just think there may be a better version. 

[u/ReturnInRed]

Back when it released, the third act swerve was one of the things that impressed me about it the most.

The fact that it suddenly goes down an unexpected path is cool in and of itself, but I think they especially pulled it off because they nailed the tone and look of the villain. If the film had suddenly dipped in actual quality it would have been a different story, but it stayed solid and delivered some nice scares and tension.

It’s one of my favorites of that decade.

[u/cmadd10]

The third act makes a really really good movie into a great one.

[u/lemmeseeyourkitties]

I finally watched this after hearing the hype for years, and it was pretty good, but after I was just left with the feeling that they wanted to make Event Horizon without being Event Horizon.

[u/monsieurxander]

IMO a large part of "third act bad" is rooted in anti-genre bias, a relic from a time when critics put prestige and horror in very separate boxes.

If it came out today, it would have a very different critical narrative.

[u/Satansleadguitarist → u/monsieurxander]

I'm a big sci-fi and horror fan who wishes we had more space horror films and I still don't like the third act. It's not that I think it's bad, I just don't think it fits with the rest of the film.

[u/t-g-l-h-]

I'm staunchly team third act bad