Sunshine, starring Cillian Murphy, is a visually stunning and absorbing movie. Despite some weak points, this British film is entertaining and thought-provoking.
The sun is failing, the earth is cooling, and the crew of Icarus II are to release a bomb the size of Manhattan island into the sun in a last-ditch global effort to save humanity. The crew of eight astronauts is sixteen months into their mission as the movie opens, and the tense but intimate atmosphere between them is immediately palpable.
The ship and the bomb are protected from the sun by a vast parabolic shield, and the astronauts are fascinated by the approaching sun viewed from the observation room. Set fifty years into the future, the crew includes Asian as well as American astronauts as director Danny Boyle wanted to reflect the likely advances of the Chinese space programme.
The world’s top scientists have been selected for the mission; their intense focus on their responsibilities contributes to the strained atmosphere. Capa (Cillian Murphy) is the physicist, and the only person on board able to release the bomb. He is a little detached from the rest of the crew, and, comically, appears to be totally unaware of the obvious advances of attractive pilot Cassie (Rosie Byrne). Biologist Corazon (Michelle Yeoh) is totally absorbed by her garden that produces oxygen and fresh food for the ship.
During the first half of Sunshine the anxiety mounts due to the enormous pressure on the crew, and the excellent performance of the cast ensures that Sunshine is more human and more believable than many science fiction movies. The final part of the film has attracted some criticism; the focus certainly does switch to more typical sci-fi action, but this may please some audiences. The change of style does unwind much of the human tension that had been building.
Dr Brian Cox, physicist based at the European particle accelerator CERN, was scientific advisor to Sunshine. He suggested minor changes to the movie, for example the cause of the decline of the sun. On his advice, the sun is failing due to the presence of a theoretical “Q-ball particle” rather than in the course of the well-established life cycle of a star.
The soundtrack, by electronic band Underworld and composer John Murphy, simply drives the film. The music, combined with the extraordinary imagery, can at times have an altered state of reality, an effect that more than compensates the film’s weaknesses.
Danny Boyle, Cillian Murphy and writer Alex Garland had already worked together on the hit 28 Days Later, a dark but gripping reinvention of the Zombie movie released in 2003. Follow-up movie “28 Weeks Later” is due for release in 2007.
Sunshine’s special effects revolve around the extraordinary computer generated sun which is truly hypnotising - the brief from director Danny Boyle to the CGI team was that the sun should be “very, very trippy”. They succeeded.
If you emerge from the theatre in daylight, you are sure to appreciate sunshine as never before.
