'Sunshine' review

Rating: *** out of ****

Danny Boyle’s ‘Sunshine’ borrows from such films as ‘2001’, ‘Solaris’ and ‘Event Horizon’, and while in the hands of another director the film could have been a bastardized mish-mash of sci-fi elements, Boyle handles it with grace and skill creating quite an enjoyable modern sci-fi thriller.

“Our sun is dying,” Capa (Cillian Murphy) tells us in his opening monologue. Capa is a scientist aboard the Icarus II, implying there was an Icarus I. Not a good sign. In the future, our sun is, in fact, dying (a few billion years too early). Earth sends a team of astronauts to reignite the sun by detonating a ‘Stellar Bomb’ on the surface. As they approach the sun, they pick up a distress signal from the Icarus I, the mission that preceded the Icarus II and disappeared, never to be heard from again. The crew of the Icarus II decide to answer the call, thinking that if they do find the ship, they could use their bomb and have a second chance to save the world. It’s aboard the abandoned ship where things go wrong. I will not divulge what happens, but it is rather disappointing considering all the great things that came before it.

I know this sounds like a plot for ‘Armageddon II’, and in fact, there really isn’t much here we haven’t seen before. It’s how Danny Boyle handles the material that makes the film work. He’s able to take standard sci-fi and slasher movie clichés and turn them on their head, or at least make them more enjoyable to sit through. There is a great tension between the crew as lives are weighed. The ways in which they decide who lives and dies in a dire situation are cold and logical. Speaking of the crew, it was nice to see scientists and doctors in a sci-fi movie that I really believed were doctors. The cast isn’t made up of action stars, or people trying to be action stars.

It’s in the third act of ‘Sunshine’ where things go wrong. Boyle and his writer, Alex Garland seem to lose the narrative thread and send the film into the realm of conventional slasher film. The big twist is more confusing than shocking, and I found myself scratching my head. There’s also a self-important ‘best of’ clip show during the closing credits, reminding us of everything we’ve just seen. The third act makes this a good film, instead of a great one.

Still, I'm recommending ‘Sunshine’. Despite the fact that underneath, it's a rudimentary sci-fi action/suspense flick, Danny Boyle is a visionary who can take it beyond that. I found myself fascinated and on the edge of my seat. The first two acts are intelligent, thought provoking and suspenseful. Boyle and his cinematographer Alwin H. Kuchler create a cold, dark vision of space with mesmerizing visuals and a haunting score by John Murphy and Underworld. Aesthetically, this is one of the great pieces of science fiction since ‘Alien’. It’s the story that needed a bit more gravity.