Last week’s Face-Off column was a smackdown between A-list action stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Mark Wahlberg, and it seems like the decision was practically split down the middle between the two beefy actors.
This weekend finds Marvel leaving Earth’s superheroes behind and venturing into deep space with GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Although they don’t feature any ray guns or colorful aliens, let’s take a look at another pair of movies with diverse crews on critical deep-space missions, EVENT HORIZON and SUNSHINE.
(Please note: Face Off is an opinion column. We’re not using any actual science to prove or disprove anything. It’s just for fun.)
The crew of deep-space rescue ship Lewis & Clark travel to recover the Event Horizon, an experimental gravity-drive starship that has suddenly resurfaced after mysteriously disappearing seven years earlier
When the sun begins prematurely dying and the Earth begins to freeze, the crew of the spaceship Icarus II undertake a final mission to deliver a stellar bomb into the heart of the sun in an attempt to reignite the star
Captain Miller, played by Laurence Fishburne
Captain Kaneda, played by Hiroyuki Sanada
Kathleen Quinlan, Jason Isaacs, Sean Pertwee, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones, Jack Noseworthy
Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, Rose Byrne, Troy Garity, Benedict Wong
When the Event Horizon’s gravity-drive initially traveled through spacetime, it apparently slid the ship through Hell and became corrupted by an evil presence that compelled the original crew to slaughter each other. It then damages the Lewis & Clark and begins to cause disturbing hallucinations to its crew
Also, the Event Horizon’s creator Dr. Weir (Sam Neill) becomes possessed himself and tries to kill anyone who wants to decommission the gravity-drive
After altering trajectory to rendezvous with the derelict Icarus I, a miscalculation causes damage to the sun shield that protects the ship. Attempting to repair the shield then inadvertently leads to the destruction of the ship’s oxygen garden
Also, the Icarus I’s sun-baked and insane captain Pinbacker (Mark Strong) somehow survived alone for nearly seven years, and sets about murdering the crew of the Icarus II
One crew member is eviscerated, one dies from falling while following a hallucination, three meet their doom by exploding ships
(original Event Horizon crew members also glimpsed mutilating each other in video logs)
Two crew members are fatally scorched by sunlight, one is stabbed with a scalpel, one is frozen and shattered by the vacuum of space, one commits suicide by slit wrists, one meets his fate by coolant while reactivating the ship’s mainframe
Captain Miller sacrifices himself to destroy the Event Horizon’s gravity-drive, allowing three of his crewmembers to survive adrift in the separated front section of the ship
Although everyone on the ship dies, the payload is successfully delivered and the sun is rekindled, presumably saving the planet
Paul WS Anderson, of MORTAL KOMBAT, SOLDIER, the RESIDENT EVIL series, ALIEN VS PREDATOR and DEATH RACE
Danny Boyle, of TRAINSPOTTING, 28 DAYS LATER, THE BEACH, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and 127 HOURS
Both deep-space thrillers offer some striking visuals and intriguing design work, and a number of rewarding moments. Some people consider EVENT HORIZON to be oft-disparaged director Paul WS Anderson’s best movie. It’s a solid concept — a haunted spaceship! — and Anderson does a decent job building the suspense, but once the origin of the craft’s journey is revealed, it never pays off in a truly satisfying manner.
On the other hand, SUNSHINE is almost a great film, taking a more realistic science-fiction approach and wringing tension from the more practical and psychological problems of such a mission while also touching on existential elements. But then in the third act, the movie makes an unfortunate deviation into standard Hollywood slasher fare by introducing a psychotic “boogeyman” that diminishes its legitimacy. It’s a much better thematic sci-fi movie than a generic horror flick — an intelligent movie that turns dumb at light-speed.
Agree? Disagree? Which do you prefer?
POST YOUR CHOICE BELOW!