Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Paloma Baeza, Mark Strong Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: 20th Century Fox Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: January 08, 2008 Running Time: 107 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Amazon.com: A novel blend of doomsday thriller and meditative science fiction, Danny Boyle's Sunshine imagines a disturbing future in which mankind must re-ignite the sun or face total extinction. A team of scientists and crew members (played by an eclectic cast that includes Cillian Murphy from Boyle's 28 Days Later, The Fantastic Four's Chris Evans, Rose Byrne of TV's Damages, and martial-arts legend Michelle Yeoh) is dispatched to the dying star, but disaster strikes from almost every conceivable angle; as the crew is whittled down by accidents and psychological breaks, the survivors must discover a way to carry out the mission or seal the fate of the world's population. Alternately exciting and pensive, Sunshine's dichotomous tone may throw viewers expecting a special-effects bonanza (though the film's visuals are frequently stunning), but for those who recall such cerebral '70s efforts as Silent Running and Phase IV, Boyle's unusual take will be refreshing and even fascinating. The DVD includes commentaries by Boyle and Dr. Brian Cox, who served as the film's science advisor; Boyle also lends his voice to a brace of deleted scenes, including an alternate ending (which doesn't improve on the one used in the film). Thorough production diaries cover every aspect of the film's execution, from casting to special effects design, while a pair of unrelated short films by Chris Shepherd and Dan Arnold seems to be included only as a gesture of Boyle's appreciation for these directors. --Paul Gaita
Ain't No Sunshine In This Movie, Unfortunately Sunshine's plot is Armageddon meets Alien, where the sun is dying, you have to get a bomb to restart it, then a creature comes and messes the whole thing up, making an already hard job, that much harder. Chillian Murphy is as good as always, but really the standout actor/character in this film is Chris Evans, who audience might know from the "Fantastic 4" series of films, and here he plays a brave and logical engineer, who in my opinion, really elevates the movie.
Sure, the rest of the crew are idiots from going off track with the mission, chasing an extra bomb that may, or may not work, but you're into it, aside from most of the character's sheer stupidity. But making the characters not that bright in seeing the potential consequences that could happen, it's like they're almost asking for something to go wrong. It's not enough that it turns into a suicide mission, but due to a insane madman that wanders onboard, it turns very badly, with people being murdered left and right. And yes, the critics are right, all the built-up momentum the movie has going for it falls off from here. It's almost like the writer didn't know how to extend the movie, so he put a mad slasher character in there.
To make matters worse, this film is really below Danny Boyle, and if this was the first time you were seeing the work of this fine director, you will be sorely disgusted as my father was. Because, for whatever reason, Boyle feels the need to use slow motion, shaky cam and blur effects whenever the scarred madman is on screen, which is very distracting, not to mention disorienting. Did they not have the budget to show the full figure?
In either case, Sunshine is a good concept gone bad, like the mission shown in the movie. Sure, it has its likable elements, but it just takes the wrong turn, then things start to get ugly. Not to mention it's a pretty forgettable work.
Boyle channels Tarkovsky and surprisingly gets it right. Sunshine (Danny Boyle, 2007)
I have to say that at the beginning of his career, I loathed Danny Boyle's output. If a movie had his name on it, I could be guaranteed it would be overwrought, overbearing, overacted (thanks to Boyle's overuse of Ewan MacGregor), and overdone, like a soft-boiled egg that cracks when you try to take the shell off. But then, magic happened when Boyle teamed up with Alex Garland, whose first two novels, The Beach and The Tesseract, were turned into films that were at most a pale shadow of the greatness of the books upon which they were based. I don't know what it was about pre-Garland Boyle that attracted the writer, but when they got together, the result was 28 Days Later..., one of the best films of the past decade. Not content with that, the two of them immediately put their heads together again for something a little more up Garland's alley, the sci-fi picture Sunshine.
The story revolves around a group of scientists sent into space to try and revive the sun, which is slowly burning itself out. A previous team had been sent to do the same job, but were never heard from again, and this batch are the Earth's last hope before the sun becomes too weak to sustain life on Earth. While there is no real main character--this is pretty much the definition of an ensemble cast--recognizable faces in the crowd will include Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later...), Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Rose Byrne (Wicker Park), Benedict Wong (Dirty Pretty Things), and Cliff Curtis (Whale Rider), though that is by no means an exhaustive list. As the crew drifts through space on their course towards the sun, interpersonal tensions begin to take hold, aided by a ship's computer that may or may not be entirely objective. Things come to a head when a major discovery in space (we'd be getting far into spoiler country) changes things overnight and puts the entire crew in danger.
Astute viewers will recognize a number of different allusions in that plot synopsis, most notably to Alien and Solaris. The movie does reference both of them, as well as Event Horizon, but it never fails to be its own movie. Because it's an ensemble movie in which not much happens during the first half, the entire success or failure of the film lies in its cast, and as you can tell, the cast here is a strong one. Once the pace picks up in the second half, the case remains strong, but the success of the movie is transferred over to the script; Garland is, of course, as fine a scriptwriter as he is a novelist, and there is no failure in that regard either. Those looking for an action-packed sci-fi thriller would be best advised to either revise their expectations or look elsewhere, but if you're interested in a thoughtful film chock full of excellent characters and well-constructed incidents, Sunshine is worth your time. Check it out. *** ½
The best sci-fi thriller since ALIENS SUNSHINE is another excellent film from director Danny Boyle, which is as exciting as it is visually arresting. Almost every shot in the film looks like it could be a beautiful painting. SUNHINE is also a very intense "edge of your seat" type of thriller. It borrows a lot of elements from the first Alien movie and Boyle's influence is very apparent if you are familiar with his previous film 28 DAYS LATER. I would highly recommend SUNSHINE to anyone who wants an intelligent and exciting cinematic experience to add to their library.
this movie has become one of my science fiction favorites, and SF is what i generally own... i was initially drawn to it for three great film reasons - danny boyle, michelle yeoh, and cillian murphy (which goes without saying; he is amazing). cliff curtis, hiroyuki sanada, and rose byrne were also wonderful - there is not one bad cast member in this ensemble.
while the initial story seemed extremely far-fetched to me, since our sun is not the type of star that would 'go out', i decided to suspend disbelief and simply watch the film. the use of light and sound - both by boyle and the actors, particularly murphy and curtis - is what i found absolutely fascinating and is what kicks this movie past good into great for me. the portrayal and use of the sun, over and over, draws you in until you cannot wait to see how the film ends. boyle truly knew how to aim this movie to draw the viewer in by using the sun. you start to feel empathy with the astronauts/scientists and you want them to win; by the time they need to ensure the jumpstart bomb is deployed, you feel as if you are part of the experience.
i was able to let go of facts and enjoy the film - and short of the premise on why they were attempting to jumpstart the sun (ala 'the core' - i saw some vague parallels on the base concept), a lot of the science fiction elements held true to me for our potential 50 years in the future.
i was particularly impressed with how boyle used visual techniques for the captain of icarus I to enhance how seven years of solitude, closer to the sun than any human has ever been, slowly drove him away from his primary mission (which is why it failed) and focused that captain's energies towards more metaphysical issues - which not only drives the plot to the end, but boyle manages to keep the film from becoming too violently graphic, which impressed me. in that resepct, this movie is a very different experience from '28 days later', which i also liked, and proved to me that boyle knows what the script calls for.
i also highly recommend buying the DVD to watch it with the commentary on by dr. brian cox - he's great at explaining physics ideas simply without talking down to the listener, gave me a theoretical reason to believe the plot, and points out little touches that i didn't catch at first, but did after watching it again without the commentary.
you should buy this just for dr. cox's commentary - it made the film mean much more to me.
This sun don't shine What a lot of wasted potential "Sunshine" was. An interesting premise. A stellar international cast. An A-list director. Special effects eye-candy. This is a film that should have gone down as one of the great science-based science fiction films, along with the Space Odyssey series films 2001 and 2010. Instead, about half-way through the story it takes a sudden and illogical left turn into a guy-in-a-rubber-suit Troma slasher film, and any love I had for the flick went right out the window.
The story starts out brilliantly. The Sun is being extinguished, having absorbed a Dark Matter Q-Ball that is slowly turning it colder. A first mission to re-start the Sun with essentially a giant bomb, aboard the Icarus I, failed through unknown circumstances. So humanity has pooled the last of its resources for a desperate last chance with the Icarus II. The international crew carries this psychological weight upon their shoulders, knowing that their failure means the death of humanity.
Admittedly, the science here isn't exactly accurate, but it has its own internal logic and works in the context of the film. "Sunshine" veers into Science Fantasy on a few points, but does its best to stay believable with details such as a replenishing plant-based oxygen garden and a ship's psychologist that helps the crew deal with the stress of a long space voyage. The details of the ship and the pictures of the Sun are all beautifully handled.
The crew as well deserves props. Cillian Murphy (Scarecrow from Batman Begins) shows that he is more than a creepy face and a supporting character actor. This was really a standout performance on his part. Cliff Curtis (Whale Rider) is also perfectly cast as the spiritually-minded psychologist, who sees in the Sun something more than technical data. Japanese actor Sanada Hiroyuki (The Twilight Samurai) gives an understated performance as the ship's captain, and Chinese martial arts legend Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) plays against type as the mission's botanist who never throws a single punch or kick.
All the talent really deserved a better script. I don't know who is responsible for the disaster that the movie became in the end, but it really reeks of some producer deciding that an intelligent, introspective science fiction film would never sell so they had better throw some monsters in there and some gruesome lets-kill-all-the-crew-members-with-a-different-technique killings. I am really surprised they didn't toss in a shower scene for good measure.
The change in storyline really comes out of nowhere. There is no foreshadowing, no attempt to match the first part of the story with the second. Massive plot holes need to be created in order to mash the two pieces together, as they don't fit easily. At one stage, there are some really annoying single-frame flashes of photographs that do nothing to advance the story, and seem like an editor goofing off by sticking pictures of his friends at a BBQ party into the movie thinking no one would notice.
If "Sunshine" had been a space-based monster film from the beginning, like the incredible Alien, then all would be well. Instead it is a schizophrenic car wreck that seems to be the result of movie making by committee rather than the quality film it could have been. What a massive disappointment.
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