Exploding Sun (2013)

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Sci-fi is my favorite genre, but boy is it taking a beating lately. Even the big budget films seem to be incapable of getting the job done. Most of the other reviews pretty well cover everything. The opening sequences have a group of civilians on their first flight into space that looks more like a group on a vacation flight in a Lear jet. The pilot is whiny and controls the whole ship with a helicopter joy stick with shiny lights on it. Everything is down hill from there. This movie definitely takes the sci out of sci-fi. Only a frontal lobotomy will help with this department. The unfortunate truth is: that by the end I didn't care if they all died, except for possibly the Afghani girl who, well you know what happens. Hoped for better, but no joy.

I realize that no Academy Awards are forthcoming for this movie, but I do have some positive things to say about it. True, it is one of those formulaic low-budget 2-part mini-series about the world-destroying disaster movies in which inevitable destruction somehow gets turned around instantaneously when scientists figure out what to do and there's an intrepid astronaut/fighter pilot/etc. there to implement the plan. So, no big surprises there. However, there are a couple of odd things about it: SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER ...First, the first 90 minutes are spent trying to rescue a bunch of civilian astronauts, all of who actually get killed. Second, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER the thing in Afghanistan ended up WAY different than expected, with the heroine having to kill the girl she was trying to protect! SHEESH, I didn't see that coming. I figured that when the solar flare attack (or whatever the heck it was) hit the area the tribal chief would work with the relief workers, not attack them more - no heartwarming resolution there.Third - it was hard to tell what was up with the blond man stranded in his apartment, and it was rather formulaic that he found purpose in his empty life blah blah blah by rescuing a woman and her child. However, here was the unusual part - as he faced the end of the world he didn't get all sentimental about his parents (I had half expected him to start caring about them) - instead, he said up front what lousy parents they were. Finally, as far as oddities that made this movie different from the routine imminent-world-destruction pix - many have commented on the dumbness of the two male rivals arguing while a major crisis is looming. True, that is probably unrealistic - people would more likely have had their attention on the problem at hand. However, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER - while I figured, early on, one of them would have to die, my money was on the astronaut - I figured that was what he was there for, i.e. someone who could pilot the device into the sun - so was surprised that the other guy (who seemed more suited to the woman the two were fighting over) died instead.Finally - several here have commented on how ridiculous and non-scientific the whole premise of the movie is, and I agree. There is no way that a thingy fired from a space craft could make the sun go bananas. Fine, from a scientific standpoint the whole thing is ridiculous to the nth degree. So, what's your point?:)

So at the time I'm writing this review, it's rated as a 3.3 movie... and it deserves better. It's not like the big budget movies and it's obvious the production team as a whole had to make do with less, but the story actually sticks together fairly well, the characters in the movie are fairly realistic, in the sense that they act like human beings, with flaws and redeeming virtues. I've seen people on here complain about the story being unrealistic or there not being enough science in it... when has that stopped movies like say Avatar and Pacific rim from becoming major hits? That said, I found the majority of the story line credible enough and enjoyed the almost 3 hours of story very much. In my opinion, people focus on many of the wrong things in their reviews of this movie and it's sad how movies with no substance but visual dazzle can garner a rating that is so much higher than a movie like this, that actually has a good, rounded off story line. Movies like this and especially its rating are the reason why you should always make up your own mind when deciding which movie to watch. I wouldn't say it's worthy of a rating of 8 out of 10, but I decided to rate it up some, simply to get the average up. I hope you will do the same.

Rated at 3.3 you'd think that this is one step away from a movie made by high school kids. Actually it's pretty good. What the critics are harping about is the science and they may have a point. There are only two real science issues: 1) The unlikely case of the shuttle being able to get close enough to the sun to penetrate it. 2) The relatively itty-bitty tiny speck of their special drive unit being able to have any effect upon the sun.For the shuttle getting close; that' the one 'gimme' (suspension of disbelief) that all sci-fi asks for. If they'd used teleporters, nobody would have said anything.. They actually qualify this by stating that the drive unit - which is what goes into the sun - is designed to take tremendous heat.The ability for the drive unit to disrupt the sun is another 'gimme', but it is explained throughout the movie as a unit that harnesses solar radiation and multiplies it. So IF the unit survived the entry into the sun, THEN it would cause a chain reaction. Beyond those two points, your critical eye really shouldn't see too much to cut down this movie. The acting is rather good, although corny in a few places. This is certainly not a 7.0 movie but it deserves a lot more than a 3.3 rating. I'll give it a 6.4 - on the edge of a good quality movie, almost worthy of looking forward to seeing again.