So I unexpectedly got a half day at work today - and what did I do? You bet, I watched a movie. Now while I have only seen one of the previous weeks releases I was far more interested in seeing the ones that came out today and one of them happened to be on my 'must see' list for the year. That movie is 'Sunshine', the latest feature from director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later). I have always been a fan of his - LOVE Trainspotting and like 28 Days Later so was intrigued to see what he would bring to the table for a sci-fi genre film.After watching it, it's clear that Boyle has used his experience with 28 Days Later to give us a near classic sci-fi thriller that is let down by a preposterous third act. A lot of people have called it 'Alien meets 2001' which I think is pretty spot on. The whole way through the film you will be on the edge of your seat, always with a sense of unease that disaster is just around the corner. Not many directors can manage to create that nailbiting tension - the sort of tension that is still around even in the most banal of scenes and I applaud Boyle for his use of close-ups, blur effects and an excellent score.
With a movie about one object - you wouldn't think the imagery would be one of the best things about the movie but Boyle suceeds in showing off how truly magical the Sun's beauty can be. Take for example the scene where Searle asks to have the observation room filtered to 3.1% of the Sun's true brightness. He's only allowed 30 seconds before lasting retina damage but the beauty it brings has an almost ethereal quality to it. I can see why they named the ship Icarus, after the fictional Icarus who fell to his death after flying too close to the Sun in order to better appreciate it's majesty.
While the plot for his latest movie is lifted straight from your run-of-the mill disaster flicks (It's 2057 and the Sun is dying - fast. A crew of 8 have been sent on the Icarus II to re-ignite the Sun before it's too late) he manages to distinguish this sci-fi disaster flick from the rest of them by having an ensemble cast that actually works well together and speaking lines that don't carry A grade cheese with them. Boyle wanted the cast to act as if they had been crampt in with each other for a very long time (They have been away from Earth for 16months) and in order to achieve this he got the principle actors to spend a couple of weeks in almost jailcell like conditions with communal living quarters - the whole shebang. It definately shows in the performances, with Cillian Murphy as the physicist and Chris Evans as the engineer peforming particularly well. There's something about Cillian's eyes which are totally disarming - they have a piercing and unreadable quality to them. I must also single out Cliff Curtis as the ships psychologist - I didn't detect the grating kiwi accent once. Oh and there's always the delightful Rose Byrne, providing some eye candy as the mission's pilot.
The desire to have the cast act as a believable crew was part of a larger goal for 'Sunshine' to shy away from the Star Wars and Star Trek world of Sci-fi and portray a plausible fiction. For the most part Sunshine acheives this sense of reality but there is a major problem in the third act when we are greeted with a bizarre plot twist from way out of left field which will alienate a lot of viewers. I won't give it away but it involves the Icarus I (Their ship wasn't called Icarus II for no reason). For all the scientific plausibility of the film it gets shot down by this ridiculous conclusion. I also didn't really love the ending - I don't know whether it's just me but when I watch movies like The Core (god I can't believe I am referencing that movie in a review or even acknowledging I saw it) or Deep Impact etc I like my endings to be full of spectacle and this one was a bit of an anticlimax. I can see where the director was coming from with the shot he closed with but I was hoping for something with a little more spark.
Would I reccomend seeing it? Definately, it's the best sci-fi to come out this year by a long way - a lot better than The Fountain which was too pretentious for its own good. Just be prepared to be let down a little by the ending.
A weak 4/5.
