Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Alex Garland
Cast: Rose Byrne, Chris Curtis, Chris Evans, Troy Garity, Cilian Murphy, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong, Michele Yeoh
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 107 mins
Released: 5/05/07
Plot Outline: Set 50 years in the future, a group of astronauts have embarked upon a desperate mission to restart our dying sun. They are the second attempt to carry out the task, the first having mysteriously failed seven years before. Travelling on board the Icarus II, the assorted crew members must confront mechanical, psychological and spiritual crises in order to complete their mission.
Review: DANNY BOYLE'S assorted crew of astronauts, physicists and a psychologist are a long way from home. Millions of miles away, in fact. For the last 16 months they have been riding shotgun with the largest nuclear payload ever constructed, heading straight towards the source of all life on our planet, the sun. Quite literally on a star trek, their aim is to to deliver the payload into the heart of the sun in an attempt to restart the stumbling giant.
Armed also with the knowledge their goal is possible only in theory and that the previous mission has failed, things are understandably tense on board the unfortunately named 'Icarus 2'. Why the future generations of Earth would want to name their last hope after the legendary figure who flew too close to the sun and fell to his death only writer Alex Garland knows. And why the future generations of Earth would want to name their last, last hope after the previous ship that was so prophetically named is...well, over to you Mr. Garland.
Aside from such trivial details, the film initially excels. Clearly and unashamedly influenced by Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey, Sunshine is often enthralling, thoughtful and epic. But whereas Kubrick opted for taunt, uncomfortable suspense throughout most of 2001, Boyle tries to convey a sense of wonder using ethereal ambient music by Underworld. The scene where the crew gaze upon Mercury passing by the sun is particularly beautiful.
Another simple device Boyle uses to good effect is to confine all shots to in and around the Icarus 2. This serves to increase the sense of growing tension on board. In fact, it is only at the very end of the film where we get a glimpse of the Earth.
While characters are not given the depth and development that they perhaps deserve, it is made clear who is most afraid, headstrong, overwhelmed and spiritually engaged by the mission. The staple genre scenes of the crew around the conference table provide vital exposition and detail what pressures weigh on whom regarding their professional roles on board.
Despite the palpable tension, all is going surprisingly well until a distress call is intercepted from the the Icarus 1. A decision is made to divert to the original ship and gather a second payload that will hopefully give the crew double the chance of success.
This diversion sets of a chain reaction of events that result in significant damage to their own ship, the dramatic death of one member of crew and the despair of others. While hardly original, these sequences are handled with great aplomb, backed by a wonderful score and are genuinely very intense.
As the crew rendezvous with Icarus 1 the audience is treated to some brilliantly chilling sequence of docking and boarding the seemingly deserted sister ship. Capa (Murphy), Mace (Evans), Harvey (Garity) and Searle (Curtis) carry out an extensive search and find the Icarus 1 payload inoperative, a definite lack of crew members and the on-board garden lush and overgrown, a stark contrast to their own which has been destroyed. It is discovered that the cause of the ship's failure psychological, chiefly a religious epiphany by the Captain (Mark Strong). The crew is found incinerated in the Observation room after being exposed to the full power of the sun, the dust from their bodies coating the insides of the ship.
A mysterious accident causes the Icarus 2 to break away from the boarding party and, without enough spacesuits, only one crew member can return to their original ship. Everyone wants to go, however, so wrapped in tinfoil Harvey and Mace accompany the bewildered Capa (snug in his suit) back to the Icarus 1. Searle stays behind to operate the airlock. Mace survives the vacuum of space and -250c temperatures, landing in the Icarus 2 airlock. Harvey is not so lucky, and Searle kills himself on the Icarus 1. While this section strains credibility for what is a film supposedly scientifically plausible, it does no major damage.
It is during the remainder of the story Sunshine begins to unravel. The new threat to the success of the Icarus 2's mission is the prescience of Pinbacker, the insane captain of Icarus 1, who has survived seven years alone on board his ship. He has remarkably stowed away on board Icarus 2 and is hell-bent on stopping the surviving crew members. Like the original Icarus, Pinbacker thinks man should be punished for venturing too close to the Gods.
Up until this point Boyle crafts a film that is thought provoking and compelling. From here on in, one can only describe him of dropping the proverbial ball. Writer Garland simply has nothing interesting to offer regarding the human condition when responsible for the survival of mankind, pushed to the very edge of endurance and far from home. What we get instead is generic Demented Horror Man With No Skin, who has retained the power of speech but who, like Garland, has nothing interesting to say apart from some general quasi-religious ramblings. The character of Pinbacker is so disappointingly derivative of Event Horizon, that if Sam Neil had popped his head around the air-lock door I wouldn't have batted an eye-lid.
The last act of Sunshine is unquestionably confusing. The threat of Pinbacker seemingly dealt with, Capa appears to arm the payload and, suited up, drifts off into space after it in a beautiful sequence that would have been an excellent end to the film. Then Capa is suddenly unsuited, back on board ship, still fighting with Pinbacker and trying to protect Cassie (Rose Byrne) from her crazed attacker. All of a sudden Tarkovsky and Kubrick have not so much taken a back seat as been left behind at the petrol station as Sunshine concludes almost as an inadvertent pastiche of Hellraiser. Eventually the monster is defeated, the payload delivered and the Earth apparently saved.
In the end Sunshine is merely a good example of the genre, rather than a great one. Danny Boyle's film is constantly entertaining, often enthralling and sometimes beautiful. It's just such a shame it ultimately lacks the imagination and creativity to go, well, where no-one has gone before.
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