Review of Danny Boyle’s film “Sunshine”

To start; well, I’m in shock. Please, for a moment disregard anything you have heard about this film that is negative. I read on Rotten Tomatoes that the last half hour of the film negates the beauty of the 3/4ths of the movie. This is not the case. But before I go on, I must warn those who have not see the film yet that I will be revealing spoilers. If you haven’t seen it yet, do not worry, I give it a positive review.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

On the off chance that you don’t have a clue what this movie is about, here are the facts: “The Sun is dying,” that is one of the many catch-phrases of the film. It is currently the year 2057. In 2050 a special space mission was launched, called the Icarus. Manned by a crew of 8, it sets off with a dark matter bomb the size of Manhattan to reignite the Sun. However, the mission is lost. So now a new crew sets upon the same mission aboard the Icarus II. (Can anyone say “The Core”?)

The film starts when the Icarus II has just lost radio contact with Earth, due to solar winds. Soon afterwards they pick up the distress call of the Icarus I. The bomb tech, Capa (played by Cillian Murphy, probably best remembered for playing the villain Scarecrow in Batman Begins) decides that two bombs are better than one and the crew redirects their course.

Sadly, the huge shield on the front of the ship is not properly realigned with the Sun, and chaos ensues, killing the captain of the Icarus II, and causing the greenhouse on the ship (which produces all the ship oxygen) to catch fire. The crewmember responsible for the miscalculation becomes extremely depressed and suicidal. The rest manage to reach the Icarus I, but the ship is not functional and the crew appears to all be dead.

Sorry, you can’t use this bomb.

Just as the remaining crew members start getting mad for redirecting the mission, and losing the captain for a bomb that doesn’t work, the airlock brakes leaving four of the remaining crew stranded on the Icarus I, and causing the Icarus II to start venting gas into space. (Can anyone say “Apollo 13”?) Despite that setback, they realize that the can launch themselves from one ship’s airlock to the other by releasing the pressure suddenly from the Icarus I. Problems? Yes, there is only one spacesuit, and four men, and one of them is going to have to stay behind to perform the launch. Two of them wrap themselves in insulation and hold on the man in the space suit. Two make it to back to the ship. One freezes in space, the other who says behind, dies from the rays of the Sun on the Icarus I observation deck.

5 left. Well…. 4, it is now found the suicidal crewmember did just that. Then the computer tells Capa that there are not only 4 crewmen aboard…… there are 5. One last member of the Icarus I crew was alive, and he got aboard the Icarus II, and he doesn’t want them to reignite the Sun….. cause, well, he’s insane. The crazy man proceeds to shut off the power to the ship (turning off all the lights in the process, surprise, surprise) and go off hunting the remaining 4 members of the crew. (Can anyone say “Alien”?)

One crew member dies trying to get the power back on, by falling in the ship’s coolant and freezing. Another dies by the hand of the crazy man. By this time it is rather obvious that none of them are going to come out of this ordeal alive. But will the payload be delivered, will Earth survive? Capa, our hero manages to do just that, by detaching the bomb and flying it straight into the sun. (The bomb, oddly enough looks exactly like the cube from the Transformers movie. I’m still trying to figure out who had it first, but I’m rather sure that Spielberg stole it from Boyle.)

Back on Earth, Capa’s sister suddenly sees the sky grow brighter and then the snow filled landscape bursts into light. I always like happy endings.

Upon reviewing what I just wrote, I realize that this plot seems a little far fetched…… OK a LOT far fetched. So I will admit that it isn’t for everyone. Espeacially the parts at the end with the crazy captain of the Icarus I. But the beautiful sweeping scenes of the Sun and of the Icarus, are some of the best film making I have seen since M. Night’s “The Village.”

Also, this movie is tremendously scary. I actually found the scenes where the crew where in danger from natural causes scarier than when they are in danger from “Crazy.” Overall, very scary, very beautiful, very well done. But by the end of the film, you won’t really be thinking about underlying themes in the movie of self sacrifice and God’s judgment of mankind. Oh, well, I enjoyed it. Personally, I firmly believe that Boyle has again created something much greater than the sum of its parts.

Scariness rating: 4 ½ out of 5 shivers

Moral rating: 2 out of 5 Bibles

Film Making Quality rating: 5 out of 5 film reels

Plot rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 smiles

Movie rating: R 14A 13+