Sunshine (film): Difference between revisions

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Plenty. {{spoiler|Kaneda, then Searle, then ''not'' Harvey, then Mace, and finally Capa.}} It could be argued that the whole crew gets a credit for this trope. Once they realize {{spoiler|there's hardly enough oxygen to get to the detonation point near the sun, let alone to make the trip back to Earth, they all accept rather gracefully that they will die to save the human race.}}

* [[Hollywood Science]], but not to the extent of [[They Just Didn't Care]], as they had a science advisor on staff in an attempt to make it seem remotely plausible. [[Danny Boyle]] intended to leave out things like visible stars, slow-motion zero gravity, and [[Space Is Noisy|sound in space]], but left them in because the movie just [[The Coconut Effect|didn't feel right otherwise]]. The science is actually about fifty-fifty. The oxygen garden is a very likely component of long distance space travel. In an actual space ship, the crew ''would'' be able to hear the ship creaking from the inside, as they did in the movie. The "Dead Zone" around the sun is [[Truth in Television]]; recall that the primary effect of solar flares is to disrupt electronic communications like HAM and AM radios. The way that {{spoiler|two crewmen escaped Icarus I without spacesuits}} is also scientifically plausible, though just as unlikely to work perfectly as it was in the movie. Also, try not to think about the effects of gravity in the climactic scene. It's a bit...wonky.

** The science advisor, Professor Brian Cox - PhD, OBE, D:Ream - said that he would tell them how thing would really happen and where they were going wrong, but then it was up to [[Danny Boyle]] et al decide on it, and if the story was better off if they bent the real science, that's what they did. He considered that the right way to do it.

** Explaining why "visible stars a science fail" from above, because it's more a visual arts trope conflicting with science: the sun only looks like a flaming ball when viewed through special filters/computerized images. Depicting exterior shots with a sun like that is forgetting the fact that with all the visible light a star puts out at the local system range, you wouldn't ''see'' anything, you'd literally be blinded by all the light. This is depicted somewhat in-story when one of the crew members asks to have the viewport filters turned down by a small fraction ''and the room is almost completely washed out by all the extra light''.

* [[Implacable Man]]: {{spoiler|Pinbacker}} compensates for his slow gait through his intimate knowledge of Icarus-2's systems.

* [[In Space Everyone Can See Your Face]]: Averted.

* [[Latex Space Suit]]: Averted. It looks to be quite golden.

* [[Letting the Air Out of The Band]]: The Icarus computer can't talk properly if taken out of the coooolannnt....

** We never get a good look at {{spoiler|Pinbacker}}, partly due to the crew's dementia and also because of his portrayal as a 'being of light'.

* [[Literally Shattered Lives]]: {{spoiler|Harvey}}'s frozen corpse collides with Icarus-2's antenna, shattering his arm. The rest of him drifts into direct sunlight, whereupon it ([[Rule of Symbolism|Insert symbolism]]) crumbles to dust.

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: As good as the film is, it's notorious for how much its third act contrasts in mood and theme to the first two. If the first two acts are, say, ''[[Session 9]]'', the third act is ''[[Hellraiser (Film)|Hellraiser]]''.

* [[Multinational Team]]: Based on ideas of the global community's space programs would be in 70 years, the Icarus mission is a mix of Americans, Chinese, and Japanese astronauts. The first Icarus ship had Pinbacker, who was apparently supposed to be South African (his accent is easier to place in his recording).

* [[Scenery Porn]]: The entire film just looks beautiful. And eye motifs.

* [[Science Hero]]: The entire Icarus crew, but especially Capa.

* [[Shoot the Dog]]. Pretty much the whole litter.

* [[Shout Out]]:

* [[Snowy Screen of Death]]: On {{spoiler|Kaneda's}} helmet camera.

* [[Solar CPR]]: The whole point of the mission.

* [[Space Is Cold]]: Among the nail-biting uncertainties in an [[Improvised Microgravity Maneuvering]] scene. Another is that the {{spoiler|four crew exploring the wreckage of Icarus I are aware: only three can attempt the jump back to Icarus II.}} They'll survive...if nothing goes wrong.

* [[Space Is Noisy]]: Applied.

* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]: The premise might make a bit more sense with some of the [[All There in the Manual|background material]] that uses a real physics-based description (they weren't "restarting" the sun but destroying a particle chunk that was prematurely killing the sun), but there was no way to explain that without invoking this trope. So it was a kind of "screwed either way" situation.

* [[Wham Line]]: {{spoiler|"Negative, five crew members."}}

* [[What Is One Mans Life in Comparison]]: The film arguably contains a number of examples, but in one instance a character comes close to saying this trope's name verbatim {{spoiler|when the crew is deciding whether to kill an injured crewman in order to save oxygen}}.

* [[You Are in Command Now]]: Harvey is promoted to {{spoiler|Captain}} following his predecessor's demise. Ironic, since he's the Communications officer on a ship with a useless communications array, leaving him the most expendable person on board.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Sunshine]]