Sunshine

Sunshine



Not many movie space missions go to the Sun. Nope, can’t think of a single one. Some go to the moon. Some go to distant planets populated by malevolent or benevolent creatures. But, never to the Sun. Well, what else would you expect from the man who gave us zombies that run?

Our star is dying. The huge mass of heat and light that we all take for granted is fizzling out. The planet Earth is covered with ice and snow and we’re all going to die unless the intrepid crew of Icarus 2 (Icarus 1 went missing) can re-ignite the Sun.

They plan to drop a super-massive atomic bomb into the Sun and cause a chain reaction, which will restore it. A simple mission, but things start to go very wrong very quickly.

The crew discover Icarus 1 floating prone in space and decide that two bombs are better than one and link up to it. Unfortunately for them, one deranged crew member is still on board (played by Mark Strong; one of my favourite actors) and he has no intention of letting them complete their mission.

It’s up to Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four) and Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies) to detonate the bomb and avoid being killed.

The long metallic corridors are straight out of Alien, clanging under heavy footfalls. The psycho in outer space draws a lot of similarities to Event Horizon. But, the film this is most like is Apocalypse Now.
You have the Journey into the darkness of the soul, sampling both the beauty and the horrors within. You have a maniac leader figure (a la Kurtz) with a different vision of the future and who is ensured of his righteousness through divine guidance.

The pace of the film is perfect. From the very first instance you’re aware of the impending disaster. It starts off slow, giving a great deal of room for character development, then after the initial catastrophe it accelerates to full speed. You’re left bewildered at how fast things have become unstable.

There are a few plot holes in this film that have been touched upon since its release, such as how a hyper-intelligent AI system would let the crew manually override the system one minute and lock them out the next. Or, why does a ship designed to deliver a bomb have the capability to link up with other ships. But, they don’t detract from the story. If you let yourself be moved along at the pace of the movie, there is no time to stop and dwell on these inaccuracies.

Danny Boyle has made some of the best British Cinema since Ridley Scott and should be applauded for it. I can’t wait to see what he does next.
(Though Slumdog Millionaire does look shit).

Verdict 10/10
An instant Sci-Fi classic. Comparable to its influences.