Sunshine (2007)

There aren’t a huge number of British Science Fiction films out there. There are even less that have the budget, the ambition and the special effects to make them look like they could have come from Hollywood. “Sunshine” manages the impressive feat of managing to both look like a big-budget Hollywood film while also managing to be more intelligent than the vast majority of big-budget Science Fiction films.

The basic premise in Sunshine is that our Sun is dying – not in billions of years as is currently predicted, but in the mid-21st Century. The amount of light and heat being produced by it is dropping fast plunging Earth into a devastating winter – some things are worse than global warming. The films doesn’t spend too much time dwelling on the cause of the Sun dying or on the science behind it or even on the disasters it must inevitably be causing on Earth. Instead (almost) the entire film is set on the spaceship Icarus 2, humanity’s best and only hope of survival. The mission of the Icarus and the 8 crew on it is to deliver their huge payload, a nuclear device the size of Manhattan, into the heart of the Sun. Somehow this will save the Sun and save the Earth. The science behind this is never explained, this may be a reasonably intelligent Science Fiction film but they don’t waste the audience’s time trying to come up with a contrived pseudo-scientific explanation for the mission, which is probably a good thing.

The journey to the Sun takes several months and some tensions inevitably arise between the crew members, all confined to close quarters and all wondering if they’ll be able to complete the mission, if they’ll be able to get to Earth and most of all wondering what happened to the first Icarus mission seven years earlier. Their sister ship had dropped out of contact completely shortly before reaching the Sun, but as the Icarus 2 passes Mercury and moves out of communication range with Earth, they receive an automated distress signal from the Icarus. It is still in solar orbit, but there is no indication of why it failed to complete its mission or if any of the crew are still alive. The crew now face a dilemma - should they change course to visit the Icarus 1, to rescue any survivors and more importantly to retrieve the Icarus’ payload giving them two chances to save the Sun instead of one. They soon find they have an even bigger problem after an accident on the ship causing significant damage means that the ship does not have the life support for the entire crew to complete their mission – there will only be enough oxygen for four of them.

The plot is compelling and, if you ignore the slightly dubious scientific background and some minor plot holes, fairly believable for most of the movie. Unfortunately, things get a bit more far-fetched in the last few minutes as there is a big (but fairly predictable) plot twist once they rendezvous with the Icarus 1. Director Danny Boyle does manage to largely pull off the more action-oriented scenes towards the end and manages to keep it from becoming too implausible even if the plot does start to feel a little bit contrived. Unfortunately, right at the end the direction does let the film down a little bit as there are a couple of fairly incoherent scenes. Although some things about the ending do work quite well, overall it is a bit of a disappointing finish to a fine Science Fiction film.

One of the best bits about Sunshine is that the characters’ various reactions to their problems are both varied and believable. The pragmatic Mace (Chris Evans) and life support officer Corazon (Michelle Yeoh) both argue strongly against any deviation from their vital mission, willing to do whatever it takes, on the other side psychologist Searle (Cliff Curtis) and pilot Cassie (Rose Byrne) both believe that an attempt has to be made to reach the Icarus 1. In the middle is the main character Capa (Cillian Murphy), the physicist who designed the planet-saving device who knows that even though it is humanity’s last hope, there is no guarantee their mission will work.

The quality of the acting is very good, particularly from Cillian Murphy, although Rose Byrne manages to make her character the most likeable. The dialogue is also done well, avoiding technobabble and allowing the characters to have an intelligent debate on what they should do.

Sunshine is an example of how to use CGI very well. There are some visually stunning scenes in this and a real sense-of-wonder in some of the space shots, particularly of the Icarus 2 itself and its massive shield against the Sun’s power. A scene where Capa and Captain Kaneda have to go out on a spacewalk to repair part of the shield is particularly good at conveying both the huge size of the spaceship and the sheer power of the Sun. Some of the more low-key scenes like Searle staring into the Sun from the shielded observation room or the crew watching the transit of Mercury, its silhouette passing across the Sun, are also memorable uses of CGI.

Towards the end, there is also some use of CGI in the powerful (if slightly implausible) action sequences. The end of the film may not be the best piece of plotting in the film but it still looks impressive.

In summary, this is a very good and visually impressive Science Fiction film for most of its length. Unfortunately, the ending is not entirely successful and does drag the film’s quality down a bit. Nevertheless it is still definitely worth watching.

Rating : 8 / 10

All content ©2007 William Marnoch.

Comments? Agree/Disagree with the Reviews? Suggestions? Random Ramblings? Whatever you might want to say, feel free to e-mail me at william@wmarnoch.freeserve.co.uk .