A couple of days ago I was sitting at home and wondering what the world would be like if the Sun was in the process of dieing and how the Human race would cope. Fortunately a screen writer called Alex Garland had the same thought a few years earlier and got together with Danny Boyle (
28 Days Later) to make a film all about it. What are the chances of that?
Sunshine is the film of which I speak and for those of you who can’t be bothered to read all the way to the bottom of this critique, let me tell you that I really enjoyed it.
 |
 |
Apparently set 50 years in the future (although I can’t remember being told this during the film) the Sun, for some reason not explained, is coming to the end of it’s natural life. Queue our intrepid heroes, the crew of the Icarus II – a space ship shaped like a giant umbrella, hurtling towards our closest star with an explosive payload roughly the size of Manhattan Island. The 8 members of the team are comprised of astronauts and scientists, each needed for their specific talents, be it the physicist (Cillian Murphy) or the botanist (Michelle Yeoh) – yes they need plants in space – or the mission obsessed astronaut (Chris Evans). During the voyage they pick up a distress signal from the Icarus I, which was sent on the same mission seven years earlier, but was assumed destroyed due to communication issues back to Earth. This, however also happened to our new voyagers due to their proximity to the Sun and the interference that it produces. So they then have a dilemma: Theoretically there could be people still on board, alive and well. Also with a second payload their chances of reigniting the sputtering star would be doubled. Is it worth changing the mission for the possibility of rescuing not only any survivors but also another bloody great bomb? Not having the luxury of communicating with mission control any longer they must make the decision themselves, and after much deliberation they decide that two chances to save the solar system, and all known life, from oblivion are better than one. So a few very complicated equations later and a new trajectory is calculated. This is where things start to go wrong. Without giving too much away and spoiling it for everyone, their problems start even before they dock with the original Icarus…..
But is the film actually any good? Well, yes. Some don’t agree (I’ve read a few reviews and they are mixed), but mostly people liked it. Saying that though, people did leave the cinema I was in during the first half of the film, but I’m guessing that they were looking for a sci-fi/action heavy thriller in the vein of Alien, but this just isn’t the case. The first portion of the film is all story driven, with the action not picking up until quite a way into the proceedings. But hang in there and you’ll be treated to some pretty good thrills, but don’t expect a gore fest as this isn’t what this movie is about.
 |
 |
Whilst I was sat there taking it all in, I couldn’t help making a few comparisons. First off, the story struck me as taking a few ideas from The Core, a daft but fun film in its own right, where a bomb needs to be detonated a little closer to home to save our world, rather than 8 light-minutes away. Also, after things start to get strange, I couldn’t help but think of that masterpiece of horror cinema, Event Horizon (well I liked it). There are some very strong resemblances to that film, but I won’t go into too much detail about all of this, the similarity is obvious when you see the movie. But all in all this isn’t a bad thing. Both of the films I’ve just mentioned have their merits and the ideas work in Sunshine, but with a Danny Boyle twist to add to the mix.
If you want a thought provoking film, that is expertly shot (if sometimes confusingly – what were the subliminal picture flashes for?) and that doesn’t rely on buckets of human and alien blood or gratuitous nudity, then check it out. My only reservation is that I think that Boyle could have gone a little further into the human psyche, and explored a few of the more challenging morale dilemmas teased at here, as I feel that some issues were skipped over without being fully explored.
