April 2nd, 2009 | 
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A novel blend of doomsday thriller and meditative science fiction, Danny Boyle’s Sunshine imagines a disturbing future in which mankind must re-ignite the sun or face total extinction. A team of scientists and crew members (played by an eclectic cast that includes Cillian Murphy from Boyle’s 28 Days Later, The Fantastic Four’s Chris Evans, Rose Byrne of TV’s Damages, and martial-arts legend Michelle Yeoh) is dispatched to the dying star, but disaster strikes from almost every conceivable angle; as the crew is whittled down by accidents and psychological breaks, the survivors must discover a way to carry out the mission or seal the fate of the world’s population. Alternately exciting and pensive, Sunshine’s dichotomous tone may throw viewers expecting a special-effects bonanza (though the film’s visuals are frequently stunning), but for those who recall such cerebral ’70s efforts as Silent Running and Phase IV, Boyle’s unusual take will be refreshing and even fascinating. The DVD includes commentaries by Boyle and Dr. Brian Cox, who served as the film’s science advisor; Boyle also lends his voice to a brace of deleted scenes, including an alternate ending (which doesn’t improve on the one used in the film). Thorough production diaries cover every aspect of the film’s execution, from casting to special effects design, while a pair of unrelated short films by Chris Shepherd and Dan Arnold seems to be included only as a gesture of Boyle’s appreciation for these directors. –Paul Gaita
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Excellent
I found this movie to be very good. Many people are giving it a low rating (or bad review) due to the flaws in the science in the movie. Also, some are just staring at the movie and not analyzing it to get the whole truth to it. There is a lot of meaning behind the movie if you pay attention closely to it.
5 Stars Harrowing Study of Man’s Insignificance in the Universe
Sunshine, released in theaters in 2007, was advertised under the premise that “Danny Boyle has re-ignited the science fiction genre”. A bit of a conceit, I thought, but I took the bait. The tagline couldn’t have been more accurate. I saw the film theatrically six times, as Sunshine turned out to be one of the most visually captivating and psychologically devastating films produced in the genre since Alien or Blade Runner. The premise behind Sunshine is simple. Our sun is dying. An attempt was made to “kick start” Sol’s inscrutable fusion processes using a “stellar bomb” of dark matter, but this mission presumably failed. A second mission is launched to reattempt the momentous task. As the ship — Icarus II — and her crew near the sun, things start to fall apart. I will not elaborate further on the way things transpire, as other reviewers have already seen fit to lay out the plot for would-be viewers. What I will tell you is that Sunshine packs a visceral punch lacking in at least 95% of the science fiction films made in the past 15 years.
First of all, there is a great deal of clamor about the “bad science” of the film and the “improbabilities” of the plot. Those perpetuating this hue and cry would do well to watch the DVD or Blu-Ray with the commentary from Dr. Brian Cox activated. He cogently, and in layman’s terms, explains how our sun might (and I say might — because this film is fiction and the scientific theories are yet untested) be disrupted enough to “die out”. Also, Cox points out all of the pecadilloes in Sunshine and notes that the decision to “break the laws of physics” in places was a conscious choice by the writer and director, driven by financial concerns and dramatic license. Thus, scientific accuracy was definitely sacrificed in places. We know this. In Sunshine, there’s “sound” in space. There’s no plausible means of artificial gravity on board the ship. You see people freeze after seconds in a vacuum. I have no problem overlooking these mistakes in light of the mood and tension evoked in Sunshine. Besides, can you name one science fiction movie set in space — 2001 included — that “gets everything right” physics-wise? Let’s move on.
Sunshine is a visual treat for the fan of serious science fiction. The Icarus II, in all of its utilitarian sprawl, is a majestic craft to watch onscreen. The special effects involving the sun, which are numerous in light of the plot, are awe-inspiring. Lighting, sound, and set design tightly coalesce to remind the audience that human life is frail and that space is, literally, an unkind place for mankind. Boyle borrows stylishly from 2001, Alien, and Soderbergh’s Solaris for his Icarus II design and his “extra-vehicular shots”.
The ensemble cast, as the crew of Icarus II, is superb. Boyle and Alex Garland created characters for the actors to play — not caricatures — each with believable faults and strengths. Some, like Rose Byrne’s Cassie, are nurturing and sensitive; others are manic and obsessive (Trey); selfish (Harvey); goal-driven and unshakable (Mace); and enigmatic (Cillian Murphy’s Capa). Cillian turns in one of the best performances of his career — having intently studied young physicists at work to portray his role on screen. The psychological transformation each character undergoes as the film progresses begs the viewer to ask: “how would I react under these circumstances?” This is the mark of top-notch acting, writing, and directing.
John Murphy’s soundtrack is, undoubtedly, one of the best I have heard and perhaps the brightest star in this cinematic firmnament. In collaboration with the band Underworld, Murphy creates an aural backdrop of pain, triumph, wonder, and atmosphere. A certain composition repeats twice in the film — first at the end of the “heat shield” repair and again before and during Capa’s final spacewalk — that is so emotionally overwhelming in its melodic purity it becomes unforgettable. It is reminiscent, both in tone and in effectiveness, of Hans Zimmer’s “Journey to the Line” (as heard in the WWII film “The Thin Red Line”). Sunshine would be a four-star affair were it not for the overarching presence of Murphy’s impeccable score.
The message of the film — and, yes, it has one — is that humanity’s existence is not guaranteed, and that the universe and our solar system is at once mysterious, uncaring, breathtaking, unconscionably pernicious — and perhaps as finite and fragile as we are. Do not expect a rollercoaster ride of mindless action or thrills. Expect atmosphere, choking tension, philosophical conundrums, and a thorough exploration of the perils of manned spaceflight. You don’t have to leave your grey matter at the door before pressing the play button here.
In the end, it will be up to you, as the viewer, to decide whether Sunshine is a classic science fiction outing or not. However, I can tell you that the film will move you in some way, shape, or form — and is worth a watch, whether you are a die-hard or casual science fiction fan.
5 Stars The Sun is shining on this movie
This was an amazing movie: from the effects to the plot to the acting to the directing. Just a great movie from start to finish. Also a must on blu-ray, the color’s and sound are perfect. This is not a huge hollywood blockbuster, but they made it seem like one.
As with all blu-ray disc’s, if you can find it cheaper than your BB store, which should be easy, then get it.
1 Star Pigs in space
The plot is a giant spaceship is supposed to deliver a bomb which is needed to restart the sun’s pilot light. The first thing which will occur to you when watching this thing is why a future humanity capable of building a machine which can go to the sun and blow it up can only recruit a couple of hipster rejects from Apple Computer ads. I mean, the crew of this space ship is completely despicable. They’re incompetent, horrible, flabby dimwits. One of the characters is vaguely astronaut like, in a sort of working class incompetent way, but of course he fights like a girl and has the self control of … a 20-something skinny hipster from Brooklyn who fights like a woman. Most of the time, the characters strut and pout exactly like weaseley Brooklyn hipsters. I couldn’t help but think, if this is the best humanity of the future can come up with, humanity deserved to die much more horribly than by “global cooling.” Roger Ebert, the old windbag, insists they’re acting like real astronauts in the whole movie. Evidently, he’s never socialized with an astronaut, and has a very poor mental picture of what such people are like. I’ll give you a hint Rog: they tend to be competent, very methodical, team oriented and calm people. They don’t tend to be weepy nincompoops with the self control of an adolescent chimpanzee. If astronauts were like that, every time something happened in space, they’d die. Everyone in the movie is completely self centered and amoral, and they all seem about as interested in doing their jobs as any hipster poseur working in a record store. Except they are all inexplicably willing to commit suicide for their record store.
Pinbacker, the bad guy, is presumably a reference to Pinback in Dark Star, though he was played with a Russian accent for some reason (I don’t think Pinbacker is a Russian name). Pinbacker’s motivation is that he’s a religious nut, and of course, Russian religious nuts are very common villains in real life. It’s funny how much the movie resembles Dark Star: more than it probably wanted to. Despite taking itself very seriously, this movie ended up a kind of low comedy in the vein of Dark Star. This movie was really a scene for scene copy of many other science fiction and horror movies. The horror bits in the second half of it were all lifted from Alien and Hellraiser (the villain, duh: the Hellraiser villain). The dramatic space scenes were scene for scene copies from Star Trek the Motion Picture and 2001. It was like the director went out to Blockbuster and rented a half dozen special effects movies, stuck them in a blender, and published his findings.
Despite humanity being able to build interplanetary atom bombs the size of Manhatten, somehow they are forced to build computers that can be destroyed in a few minutes by removing it from a cooling liquid. While I’m complaining about the poor computer engineering: the computer evidently requires gravity to keep the damn liquid in place. Even if the computer was on a dinghy or railcar, where there is actual gravity, it would seem this would be a bad idea. I mean, why not just stick the whole thing in one of those pieces of miracle technology: the plastic jar? Instead, they make the whole space ship rely on a piece of technology which explodes when some liquid sloshes around a little bit. The science in this movie makes less sense than most science fiction. I’m not talking about ordinary dumbness, like hearing dramatic sounds in the vacuum of space; this is magnificent dumbness. No, the sun is not so bright near the orbit of Mercury that it would light astronauts on fire. If it were, it would light Mercury on fire: duh. There is no “radio dead zone” near Mercury, and wouldn’t be even if something weird happened to the solar wind. Also, why does it take 24 hours for packet radio to reach earth, when light only takes 8 minutes? When people go into space, the danger isn’t that they’ll freeze into meat popsicles, the danger is that their blood will boil out of their lungs. Also, when a square object tumbles around, all the occupants inside that square object will get turned into jelly which gets smeared around the edges, even if there is some kind of artificial gravity inside it. Finally, they made a huge deal out of having to send a bunch of people along with their big bomb to light it off, but at the end of the day, the only thing the people really needed to do was press a big red button to do the deed. Humanity has had reliable ICBM’s since the late 1950s; it doesn’t make much sense to me that they’d need to build giant space yachts with oxygen gardens to do the job of an ICBM, which only required vacuum tube level computing in the 1950s. The ’scientist commentary’ with the DVD is beyond absurd; I’m a real scientist, and I’m not getting paid to tell you lies: this is real science commentary. The science in this movie is insanely, preposterously and gratuitously dumb. Liberal arts majors who care nothing for science should not make “hard science fiction” movies.
The look and soundtrack of the thing is good. They did a very clever thing in keeping most of the interior of the space ship sort of blue greyish colored, so when you look at the shots of the sun, they look much more awe inspiring. The giant space ship is so big, you’re unable to really keep it in your mind as one object. it also seems to resemble underwater drilling platforms in many ways. This is kind of absurd, in that it’s all misty and dark and stuff; in space nothing can be misty: you’ll either see it or you won’t, because there is no gas in space to diffuse the light. But it’s still evocative and pleasant to look at. I’d say it’s fun to turn your brain off for 2 hours, but really, the first hour is insanely boring, so you’ll probably fall asleep before you get to the exciting parts where the cast is mercifully and gloriously dispatched, putting them out of your misery.
5 Stars Today’s “2001″
With it’s captivating cinematography, gripping storyline, and fantastic character interaction, I daresay that “Sunshine” may well be the “2001: A Space Odyssey” of today.
“Sunshine” positively blew me away upon first look. This masterful film manages to blend detailed science with engaging fiction perfectly. To those of you who argue about the timeline of the Sun’s waning…take it as an alternate scenario to the status quo–IF this were the situation, then “Sunshine” is how it might play out.
The cinematography is beautiful and captivating. As always, Danny Boyle manages to pull his audience in to his film and keep them locked in. Never before have I seen such an amazing and awe-inspiring look at our System’s center, short of NASA footage.
Cillian Murphy plays a great role, both stoic and complex simultaneously. Chris Evans manages to pull away from his earlier “pop” roles (”Fantastic Four,” “Not Another Teen Movie”) long enough to play a very strong character in the film, playing of Cillian (and vice-versa) perfectly.
This is a must-see for the science-fiction fanatic. This is a must-own for anyone who considers themselves to be a connoisseur of cinema. Get this film.
