Sunshine – My only sunshine


No argument regarding Danny (‘Trainspotting/28 Days Later’) Boyle’s ability to direct, so it was nice to see him step out of his usual genre and do something a little more ‘science-fiction.’ He claimed that he preferred ‘Alien’ to ‘Star Wars,’ so expect to see a more ‘realistic’ take on space travel and a future world that’s more ‘industrial’ than ‘fantastical.’ And that’s about where the ‘realism’ ends.

In the near future, our sun is about to go out and so humanity sends a spaceship towards it, armed with the biggest nuclear warhead ever created, in an attempt to ‘reboot’ our solar system’s star (and obviously save the human race from an icy death).  When I first heard that this was going to be the plot, I did wonder how any spaceship (well, anything besides Dr Manhattan from ‘Watchmen’) could actually get close enough to the sun without burning up long before they were able to launch a missile.  However, this was – apparently – explained in the ship’s design, as it sports one colossal ‘reflector’ at its front – supposedly in order to reflect the sun’s rays.

Now, it goes without saying that things don’t go too well and the crew run into more than a few problems in the final stages of their mission.  And it’s worth mentioning that the cast is actually pretty A-list, including Chris Evans, Cillian Murphy and Rose Byrne.  I hope it’s not too much of a ‘spoiler’ to say that there when the crew’s number starts to diminish that you’ll be left guessing as to who’s going to make it through this one alive.  However, in terms of ‘cast’ then the set design itself deserves a mention for almost being as important as the actors that inhabit it.  As I said, Boyle went for a more ‘realistic’ style of spaceship and you really do get a sense of what their world is like – it’s very atmospheric and visually pleasing.

And, when things start to go very badly wrong, the special effects get even better.  I’m sure plenty of computer generated effects were used, but they never seem out of place or that noticeable.  I’m not sure of the percentage of ‘practical effects’ versus ‘CGI,’ but if I had to guess, I’d say ‘Sunshine’ contained a lot more models, sets and miniatures than most Hollywood blockbusters.

These ‘realistic’ settings add to what actually becomes quite a sinister atmosphere.  I know most people would consider this a sci-fi film, but some of the carnage is so creepy, there are definitely ‘horror undertones’ to everything that transpires – especially in the latter half.  Talking about the final act, if there is one major criticism that always seems to get thrown at ‘Sunshine’ it’s that it suffers from a ‘tonal shift.’ It starts off as science-fiction, but starts taking on more and more horror genre elements and even borders on a ‘slasher’ flick.

I really enjoyed ‘Sunshine.’ I think if you’re into science-fiction with shades of other, more darker genres, thrown in there it should definitely be worth tracking down.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that