Danny Boyle, the director of the genre-redefining zombie horror
movie 28 Days Later, now tries his hand at science fiction with Sunshine. The
sun is dying, and so is the human race as Earth slowly turns into a frozen ice
world. Humanity had already previously sent a ship, dubbed the Icarus, to try
and solve the problem--only to have the vessel mysteriously disappear before it
could complete its mission. Sunshine revolves around the crew of the second ship,
the Icarus 2, who are hauling a massive bomb payload the size of Manhattan
island towards the sun. Just like the first team, the team of the Icarus 2
mission is to reignite the sun by exploding their humungous bomb within the sun
itself.
The Icarus ship is protected from the sun by an enormous solar shield that acts
as an umbrella which the ship pushes ahead of itself. Eight men and women have
been traveling aboard this vessel for sixteen months, and even Dr. Searle (Cliff
Curtis), the onboard psychologist, has become a little weird--spending most of
his leisure time staring at massive, retina-protected images of the ever looming
sun. The occasional fight breaks out between some of the guys, and botanist
Corazon (Michelle Yeoh) frets over her gardens. All is proceeding normally until
they receive a distress call…from the first Icarus ship, which has been located
in orbit of Mercury.
I’ve long been a big fan of such science fiction space operas, such as the Star
Wars films, along with TV’s new Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek and Stargate:
SG-1. But I’ve also always loved the "hard" SF story--stories that had no ray
guns, or other fancy high tech, like transporters. A good example for me of a
filmed "hard" SF story is Red Planet, with Val Kilmer; or Contact, with Jodie
Foster. Sunshine, with its basic "man against the universe" storyline, falls
into the hard SF category, and Boyle’s steady hand as a director, along with his
visual flair, goes a long way into making this film a taunt, gripping ride.
My only quibble is near the end, when Boyle infuses a cheesy element from a
horror movie by having his characters be stalked by a seemingly invincible
villain, that Sunshine doesn’t
really ring true. But the performances, such as Cillian Murphy (who worked with
Boyle on 28 Days Later), Rose Byrne (also another Boyle alumni from 28 Weeks
Later) and Cliff Curtis, to name a few, are all very strong, and the movie is
visually stunning to watch. Special features include a commentary by Boyle, as
well as a separate commentary by Dr. Brian Cox of the University Of Manchester,
and deleted scenes. If you're looking for something different than the usual
SF thrill ride, then expose yourself to Sunshine.
--SF
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