#21 ·
velvetotter10 said:I think this Film is absolutely brilliant. Garland wrote a script that isn't exactly easy to grasp on the first pass—it’s dense—but everything clicks perfectly into place once you start analyzing the visual and auditory cues woven throughout the entire story.
SPOILER
The reason the first Icarus veered off course is because the captain—Pinbacker, the guy we see at the end—murdered his entire crew. Why? The answer is actually quite simple: he wanted to reach God. That captain is essentially a personification of humanity's drive toward perfection, just... taken to a terrifying, warped extreme. He was given a mission to save mankind, but in his flawed, very human reasoning, he drifted too far from the concept of humanism. He realized that by *not* saving Earth, he would remain the last living human ever. The systems onboard Icarus I allowed him to pull this off, so he did it. It was all part of his plan to reach Godly perfection as the final man in Space. He didn't care about the welfare of the species; he wanted to sacrifice humanity for his own sake. He shut down the computers, killed his crew, and began living in isolation, just waiting. Time and the cooling Sun, which is effectively killing off humanity, were working in his favor.
Since he clearly expected a follow-up mission to arrive, he set a beacon, calculating that human nature would inevitably draw that next mission off its intended path. And that’s exactly what happened. When Icarus II attempted to rendezvous with Icarus I, it was Pinbacker who forced them apart. He murdered Trey and carried his madness over to Icarus II.
The psychologist on Icarus II serves as the perfect foil to Pinbacker. Searle is a man who has stared into the greatness of the Sun and realized the insignificance of an individual, yet he managed to hold onto his humanism. He understands the vital importance of the individual when faced with the vastness of Space, infinite energy, and the necessity of saving everyone. He and the captain are two sides of the same coin. This is why he chooses to sacrifice himself for humanity and surrender himself to God.
Then there's the young physicist, Capa—the most crucial character in the whole thing. He is a truly Jesus-like figure. The tropes are laid out from the beginning, though they don't fully coalesce until the end—the blue eyes, the stubble, the hair. His courage is constantly being questioned, yet there's no doubt that his role in the mission is the most significant. Even if there are more dominant or visible personalities around him, it's clear from the start that Captain Kane is the only one who truly recognizes his importance. By the end of the Film, everyone else finally catches up.
In the final moments, it’s just him, Cassie, and Pinbacker left on the module. After space and time warp during the acceleration into the core of the Sun—which explains the shifting dimensions and the axis flip on the module itself—Capa initiates fission. This is where the internal logic of the Film reaches its peak: it shows that the conscious sacrifice of a pure soul is the only path to Godly providence. When you have the God-created energy of the solar flare flooding the module meeting the man-made power of atoms ready to split, Capa stands right between those two forces, momentarily transcending existence itself. In that instant, he realizes that God is with him, rewarding his willingness to open his heart and sacrifice everything to save humanity. He reaches toward God, steps into the light, and that's it.
For me, the Film is genuinely great, specifically because of the storytelling. It’s just a shame that certain parts felt rushed; I honestly think a Director's Cut would have fixed quite a lot of that. And yeah, it's a pity a story this good wasn't handled by a different director.
I don't know what the original script looked like, but the captain of that first ship reminded me quite a bit of how zombies were originally conceived—as this subversion of resurrection. That concept fits perfectly into a "coherent allegory," right? The real issue here is that the Film gives absolutely zero hints about the existence of a zombie obsessed with the idea of God until the moment he actually shows up. Usually, you'd see subtle breadcrumbs dropped at least two acts prior, but this movie fails that; instead, it takes this sudden, jarring pivot from a sci-fi drama straight into a zombie flick in the final act. It’s just a shame they didn't give the buildup the development it deserved.
