Movie of the Update: Sunshine

I meant to see this in the theatre, but it's theatrical run was so short I didn't really have the chance. Now that Sunshine has finally hit DVD, I thought I'd peep the flick and let you know what I thought.

Sunshine, directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) is set in the distant (or not too distant-- perhaps in-between?) future where our solar system's sun is slowly dying and the destruction of earth and it's inhabitants is eminent. Of course, this is a movie film and that means the nations of the planet and bandied together a crack team of brilliant and handsome astronauts and scientists to resolve the conundrum by flying within a reasonable distance of the star and lobbing a massive bomb into it's core, reigniting the sun and hopefully saving all of mankind. It is a completely unfeasible, ridiculous and scientifically absurd plot.

And yet, it works in a lot of ways. First of all, I'm kind of a sucker for these kinds of films-- stuff like Alien and uh, well, Alien. Even Sphere, a mostly terrible film, has it's moments. I just get a kick out these claustrophobic ensemble pieces that marry crazy science fiction with interesting characters. Sunshine delivers both. Danny Boyle did a fine job putting together an interesting cast of character actors and relatively familiar faces including Cliff Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne and Hiroyuki Sanada. Even Chris Evans of Fantastic Four fame shows up. My only real complaint regarding the cast would be that we really don't get to know any of these characters very well. There are hints and suggestions of interesting material speckled throughout (I wanted to know more about Dr. Searle) but that's about it.

A little over halfway through the movie things derail just a tad with a plot contrivance rather common to these kinds of shows, but it's not enough of a deal breaker so as to spoil the fun. Danny Boyle, whose previous directorial offering of 28 Days Later reinvented the Zombie sub-genre, doesn't revolutionize the psychological things-go-horribly-awry science fiction film, but he does contribute a solid, entertaining entry. If you are a fan of Danny Boyle, science fiction escapades, or pretty digital effects trickery, definitely check it out because when Sunshine works it shines.

I think I just made myself ill.


As much as I enjoyed Sunshine, I'm especially looking forward to it's hotly anticipated sequel: Moonshine, in which Burt Reynolds and a resurrected Scatman Crothers lead a team of expert basement brewers and distillers on an epic outer-space quest to stop the man on the moon from drinking all of their hooch. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo expected to direct.