Film Review: Sunshine
The script for Sunshine was written by Alex Garland, the guy who, when he was only twenty six, became a cult icon and the subject of international fascination by writing arguably one of the best backpacking thriller adventure books of all time: The Beach.
As with the film of The Beach, Danny Boyle directed Sunshine, the fateful story of Earth’s last chance of hope via an ambitious—and it has to be said slightly unbelievable—trip to the Sun to reignite it with a very expensive ‘Stellar bomb’.
If you can suspend your disbelief for the duration of several hours, Sunshine has its moments, revealing all that is rotten about human beings and their necessity to, in desperate circumstances, look out only for themselves.
Drawing on inspiration from films like Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris, Sunshine is a stylish psychological adventure which unfortunately comes up short, much like the crew’s efforts to save their dying planet.
Science-fiction fans won’t mind, of course, and you could do far worse than to give Sunshine the time of day; indeed, the special effects and set-design is truly stunning, and for the most part the film is engaging and insightful, accurately portraying the stress and strain of every day life on a cramped spaceship, where trust is in as short supply as oxygen.
What gives the film an edge over many other sci-fi films is the acting: instead of taking the easy-pleasing option of an all American crew, Boyle opted for an international crew to give the film more depth, and it works perfectly. Headed by famed 28 Days Later actor Cillian Murphy, the film is reminiscent of Alien in places; claustrophobic, paranoia infected, unsettling; a worthy addition to the genre, providing you can overlook the all-too fantastical nature of the story.
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