Movie Reviews

20th Century Fox/Fox Searchlight

Review in a Hurry:  Director Danny Boyle (28 Days Later, Trainspotting) helms this tense, gloomy piece about a last-ditch effort to reboot our dying sun. The initially engrossing story is betrayed by an unexpectedly hollow third act; too bad, as that's about the only thing that keeps Sunshine from setting the world on fire.

The Bigger Picture:  Everyone's favorite mass of incandescent gas has seen better days, so the fate of humankind is down to eight astronauts and one cheery, bossy talking computer. The crew of the Icarus 2 has to deliver a bomb to the heart of the sun, which will require them to fly uncomfortably close to said sun, which makes you wonder who had the genius idea to call the ship the Icarus 2, especially since things apparently didn't go so well for Icarus 1.

Tempt fate much? And hey, didn't we already (unfortunately) see The Core?

Sunshine is a much more serious endeavor than that, of course, and for much of its running time is worth taking seriously—the perils of the isolated crew and the crisis' all-encompassing dread feel uncomfortably plausible, thanks to some first-rate visuals, well-defined characters and a no-nonsense approach to the science.

Everything that happens in the early going makes a terrifying amount of sense, the crew making difficult choices with obviously deadly consequences.

But then comes a twist that threatens to send the mission—and the movie—up in smoke. It's a twist that generates a nifty, sickening shock, but one that forces an unnecessary degeneration into the kind of horror a film with this much promise doesn't deserve.

Still, it's compelling stuff, an apocalyptic tale about people who understand the fragility of human existence. Sunshine may well be this generation's answer to 2001; one just wishes Boyle and writer Alex Garland had come up with something better.