2 Reviews of Sunshine

If you haven't read it yet, check out my big poppa's review of Sunshine. Otherwise you'll have to settle for mine.

Sunshine Review
by The Spoon
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In the not-too-distant-future, Earth is threatened with a permanent winter and the likely extinction of all life on the planet save cockroaches and Starbucks. The culprit is a Sun on the fritz and the only solution is for a small crew to deliver a Manhattan-sized bomb into the Sun’s core in the hopes of reigniting the dying star and renewing Mankind’s lease on Earth. Eight men and women are assigned to this perilous mission and each of them discovers that a little bit of Sunshine can lead to worse things than unsightly tan-lines.

Get used to it

Sunshine reunites director Danny Boyle and his 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy and, as in their previous project, Boyle carefully constructs a sense of imminent disaster before going ape-crazy. In 28, tension built up as Cillian wandered through the barren and weirdly alien landscape of a deserted London. Sunshine instead creates unease through the tell tale signs of mounting pressure on board the spaceship Icarus II.

Cillian, as soft-spoken physicist Capa, struggles again and again to find the right tone for his final message to family and friends back on Earth. Psych officer Searle (played by Cliff Curtis) loses himself in sunlight “baths.” The rest of the crew, including Chris Evans and Michelle Yeoh, have their own concerns but none are as grave as their Captain’s.

Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada) leads the final hope for Mankind yet remains troubled by the unexplained disappearance of the Icarus I while on the exact same mission seven years previous. In one early scene, Kaneda examines one of the final transmissions from the Icarus I’s captain. Kaneda pauses the screen and stares directly into the lost commander’s eyes. It is a portentous moment and perfectly captures the unspoken understanding that whatever dangers befell the Icarus I also waits for them.

Deft and confident, the acting through the first half of the movie is superb. Brilliantly imagined scenarios and a nuanced script allow the cast of Sunshine to (pardon the pun) truly shine. As the natural protagonist, Cillian does not disappoint with his restrained delivery that manages to express equal parts reluctance and determination. His distinctive, angular features, which have caused so much fear in previous roles (Batman Begins, Red Eye), prove just as effective at projecting the unease and suffering of a would-be savior of Earth. But as remarkable as Cillian and the rest of cast are during the movie’s first act, they are easily overshadowed by the film’s cinematography.

These may be brilliant astronauts with a mission to reach the Sun but they sure look like they're going the wrong way

Simultaneously majestic and terrifying, the Sun is as much a character as any of the astronauts. Director Danny Boyle and cinematographer Alwin Kulcher have crafted a beautiful vision of space that elevates our nearest star from a mere cosmic placeholder to the vessel of the crew’s - and humanity's - hopes and fears. Amidst the human crew’s many trials, the Sun waits patiently and uncaring, emanating a presence that continuously reminds the audience of the sheer power of the cosmos.

If Sunshine could simply follow through with its early promise as a sci-fi drama this would have been a remarkable film. Unfortunately, somewhere in the 2nd act Boyle apparently decided to begin filming an entirely new movie entitled “28 Days Later in Space.”

Delicate pacing and meaningful dialogue get trashed in favor of cheap thrills and borderline amateurish film techniques. What worked so well in 28 Days Later comes across here as recycled and out-of-place. Sunshine manages to right itself somewhat by the film’s final act but it's ultimately hampered by an ending that lasts at least ten minutes too long.

Through the first act and a half Sunshine raises some very complex issues about the nature of sacrifice but its message is undermined by a third act that is more interested in making the audience jump at every shadow. This is a beautiful, flawed movie that, despite its problems, still manages to “get” the essence of science fiction and is an almost-revelation to fans of the genre. Sunshine burns itself out by the end, but it’s a trip that’s still worth buying a ticket for.

2 Reviews of Sunshine

You're in for a special treat today because I've got not one, not three, but two! reviews for Sunshine. I saw this science fiction thriller during the weekend with my dear old dad and he was kind enough to provide me with his own review of the movie.

I'll post the big guy's review first and mine will come up next (scroll up to find it). Please share the love by posting any compliments/fawning admiration you might feel compelled to express. After all, he has to put up with me every day.

Sunshine Review
by The Spoon's Dad

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Mix in small portions of several classic science fiction movies such as a 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris, Armageddon (OK, not so classic), an excellent cast of crew members, scorching special effects with a dose of philosophy, psychology and biology (pretty much your undergraduate core courses) and you have the latest science fiction mis-titled adventure movie – Sunshine (more on this later).

The movie begins aboard the spaceship Icarus II on a voyage to the sun, 50 years in the future. The mission of the eight-member crew is to detonate a device the size of Manhattan into the dying sun in order to re-ignite a new star and thus save mankind.

The special effects shine early in the movie with a fantastic screen-filling image of the sun and a brief scene depicting the dark planet Mercury in the foreground passing across the brightly-lit sun in the background. The crew members along with the movie audience are clearly mesmerized by the beauty and power of the celestial images.


The mission is complicated by the unexpected discovery of Icarus I – the predecessor to Icarus II – long presumed to have been destroyed attempting to detonate a similar device over six years earlier. The discovery of the Icarus I presents the first of several fundamental obstacles and decisions faced by the crew as a whole and by crew members individually.

The strength of Sunshine is in the tension-building manner the obstacles are presented and the decision making of the crew. Some decisions are democratic, others autocratic; some for the good of mankind, others self-serving. Most decisions need to be made instantly with the consequences dire. The crew members clearly understand the gravity of their situation and each must cope with the realization they may not survive the mission let alone the next moment.

Speaking of cast members – they are excellent. Cillian Murphy (Red Eye, Batman Begins) is the physicist responsible for detonating the device and he plays the role in an effective understated manner. Cliff Curtis (Fracture, The Fountain) is the onboard psychologist who has clearly been issued less than full strength sunscreen. Michelle Yeoh (Memoirs of a Geisha, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is the biologist who shows little emotion except when her plants get toasted. My favorite character is Chris Evans (Fantastic Four) who plays the crewmember I would take along if I were ever asked to save the earth, the whales or anything that requires some kick-ass effort.

There are only two weaknesses with the movie and both represent misdirected marketing opportunities. The first involves the unexpected and unnecessary twist of gore (slash) horror and the second is the title of the movie itself. The gore/horror element with a slightly modified marketing strategy could have brought in the slasher crowd for a bigger payday at the box office. Secondly, the title Sunshine implies brightness and cheerfulness - again attracting the wrong demographics. The mood and sets in Sunshine are quite dark as befits any earth saving mission and as I looked around I was relieved to see no Little Miss Sunshines in the audience (by the way I think it would have been fun to title the movie Sol Train and replaced the Icarus computer voice with Don Cornelius).


Overall, Sunshine is a sizzling futuristic adventure with scorching images, an excellent cast facing rapid-fire decisions of celestial importance with enough dosage of philosophy and psychology to satisfy the requirements of most undergraduate sci-fi moviegoers. A-