Planet Earth: 50 years from now. The sun is burning out, and with it Earth�s chances of survival. �Icarus One�, a spaceship armed with a solar bomb which would �restart� the sun, vanished seven years earlier, its crew presumed dead. Now, Earth has no choice but to send up a final vessel � �Icarus Two�, in a last-ditch attempt to save Earth and its� inhabitants.
It�s ten years on from director Danny Boyle�s first foray into Hollywood - the flawed yet underrated �A Life Less Ordinary�. Since then he and his leading man of choice, Ewan McGregor, seem to have drifted apart. It�s ok though, because director Boyle seems to have found a new one in the form of Irishman Cillian Murphy. Their first film together, �28 Days Later�, reminded British film exactly how much it owes Boyle; having redesigned the zombie genre, he now turns his hand to Sci-Fi with �Sunshine�, and with Murphy by his side.
Focusing on the claustrophobia of life inside the ship, the crew, which includes nerdy physicist Capa (Cillian Murphy), Gung-Ho American Mace (Chris Evans) and the captain Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada), struggle to maintain sanity and civility in the two years it takes to get to their destination. Mace is clearly a G.I. Joe who can�t handle the monotony of space travel, Capa is his polar opposite - calm, collected, rational, but just as terrified as Mace is. Rose Byrne plays the sensitive Cassie, Capa�s confidante and only supporter as the crew gradually implodes.
Once they come across �Icarus One� in perfect working order, the dilemma arises - do they embark on a tricky detour in order to double their chances of success, or carry on with the mission as planned?
Boyle and writer Alex Garland yet again present us with a crazy, unthinkable situation made real by the gritty direction that made audiences empathise with Edinburgh junkies in �Trainspotting� and horrific zombies real in �28 Days Later�.
There are moments in this film that are just beautiful. Six words to describe this movie: �WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! HUH?� Bear with us here. With strong influences from Ridley Scott�s �Alien�, Sunshine is �Armageddon� given the Danny Boyle formula. A film that gives us 70 minutes of brilliant build up then throws in a twist that only barely makes sense, and is ultimately something that even Jerry Bruckheimer would feel iffy about.
So, why no five stars? Given that the film has so beautifully created this world where people are no more than one mistake away from death, any resolution has to at least address that fear. �Sunshine�s� resolution does not.
If you make an intelligent Sci-Fi, that theme has to run throughout, whereas with �Sunshine� the ending feels a little bit, well, silly. Nevertheless, it�s ten times better than the average Sci-Fi, showcasing moments of genius from Boyle, who continues to astound 11 years after his breakthrough.
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