Danny Boyle's Sunshine Film Review

The ages that have passed since a proper sci-fi flick graced our collective screens melt away into cosmic flotsam and jetsam as soon as you spot the authentic looking starship models that open Sunshine. Coupled with that trusty old whooshing roar filmmakers associate with space travel, not only do they bring back fond memories of more innocent days but also herald the arrival of one solid interplanetary escapade.

Not coy in the least about its sources, Sunshine mixes the claustrophobia so well-liked in Alien with Event Horizon's sublime horror and Solaris' psychological desolation. Put together, these ingredients work well for Danny Boyle and company, much more so than in 28 Days Later, which shares some of the themes revisited here.

Sunshine gets its name from a last-ditch effort to re-start the sun. Old Sol is dying faster than anticipated, and in some unnamed near future era the world has come around to collaboratively launch missions aimed at saving humanity from a fate worse than frosting over to death.

Among the movie's greatest assets is its insistence on not showing much of the situation giving rise to this predicament or the preliminary effort that has gone into resolving the issue. This bestows upon it a delectably detached, isolated mood perfectly in tandem with the menacing experience that is flying through deep space towards a showdown with the entire world's looming demise.

It's all up to the crew of Icarus II, a large and seemingly very advanced ship carrying a bomb the size of Manhattan. The device is supposed to fan the sun's no longer burning heart, if the math and physics are up to snuff. The craft, shielded by a vast screen to deflect the solar winds and radiation, makes its ponderous way onwards on the wake of Icarus I, the first mission that went AWOL some seven years prior to the story's beginning.

Everything about the initial phases of the film screams classic science fiction, including the realistic visuals (that don't look like CGI at all, mind you), old school sound effects and the lived-in post-cyberpunk appeal of Icarus' interiors. There's dorms, a mess hall lifted almost by the numbers from the Nostromo (that's a good thing) and a verdant hydroponics farm to make oxygen and food. Neat stuff all around. The technology seen in Sunshine also makes sense, none of it over the top and all very well implemented. The same can be said of the entire production: it's impressive but in a utilitarian way. There's no tack for astronomical units.

The crewmembers represent somewhat of a cross section of the global community, but since we know almost nothing about the time and places they hail from, it's all a big guessing game that helps fuel Sunshine's surreal mystery quotient.

They consist of physicist Capa (Cillian Murphy), navigator Trey (Vincent Wong), psychologist Searle (Cliff Curtis), comms officer Harvey (Troy Garity), commander Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada), pilot Cassie (Rose Byrne), biologist Corazon (Michelle Yeoh returns!) and all-round tough guy Mace (Chris Evans).

Although tensions exist among them as they enter the no-transmission dead zone, the mission seems to be going on track until a distress signal from the earlier Icarus outing is recieved. That's when, in true Alien fashion, all hell breaks loose and the Event Horizon, edge-of-the-solar-system syndrome goes to town on the hapless assembly.

They begin to turn on each other, make mistakes and generally drop the plot. It soon becomes apparent that not all is as it seems and that something is on the ship with them in the role of uninvited guest and saboteur. Much of Sunshine consists of obvious allusions to previous works in the genre, but at least the film acknowledges this as crew members joke around about how they'll probably be picked off by ravenous aliens.

As they try to figure out what's besetting them and how to continue the fateful mission no matter the odds, we are treated to both the immense powers and deep frailties of the human animal. All major elements are put into play, some ironically, for instance freezing mere steps from the sun. These almost anecdotal occurences set the stage for an excellent ride full of color and sound, that despite a rather basic story succeeds in compelling and convincing there's more here than one viewing can hope to take in.

It may disappointing that, in the end, Sunshine relies on a trite and uninspired antagonistic plot device to bring closure, but it's such an emotional, addictive story that you won't care. And the soundtrack is among the most outstanding we've heard in a long time.

Take a long, contemplative look at this one. It may babble for a bit on stardust and other faux-existential items, but in the end the real message lies in execution instead of minutiae. This is a cosmic adventure not to be trifled with.

Rating: * * * *

Directed by Danny Boyle

Starring Cylian Murphy, Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans, Vincent Wong et al

2007, English, 100 minutes