Screenhead

Danny Boyle’s had a pretty interesting career so far–he’s been literally all over the board, having brought us Trainspotting, The Beach, A Life Less Ordinary…plenty of solid titles.  Then he segued into horror with 28 Days Later, and things sort of changed.  He’d been just about everywhere he could go in terms of genres, with only one thing left, really: science fiction.

So leave it to Danny Boyle to not refuse a challenge.  He came along with Sunshine, a solid science fiction title.  A last-ditch multinational force is dispatched to no less a target than the sun itself, which is currently running out of juice.  That’s right—our gigantic nuclear furnace is steadily burning out, and Earth is in the grips of a solar winter.  Thus the force sent to the sun containing a giant nuclear bomb comprised of all of Earth’s fissile materials, which will then be dropped into the sun and detonated in the hope of kickstarting it back into providing Earth with life-giving light.  But on their way, they discover that they weren’t the FIRST such mission, and they find the previous vessel sent to do the new ship’s job.

This find is handy, because following an accident that claims the life of the ship’s captain and does plenty of damage besides, they’re in desperate need of salvaged parts.  But it’s not just parts waiting for them on board their predecessor, and what else is waiting for them puts both the new ship’s crew—and their mission to save humanity—at risk.

Start by overlooking the fact that it’s impossible to mine all of Earth’s fissile materials into one giant thermonuclear bomb twice (they’ll actually mention that the second bomb took all of Earth’s fissile materials), and even if they’d only just scraped the tank dry to make the second bomb, they still shouldn’t know that they’d used exactly half the material on the first bomb.  Letting that hitch in the plotline’s getalong go by unchallenged will leave you feeling a lot better about the movie itself.

Because Sunshine is a pretty solid science fiction title, come right down to it.  In fact, it’s actually pretty entertaining.  The visuals are great—what they do with simulated holography is downright fascinating and their suppositions of future technology seem supremely feasible.  The performances are solid and boost the overall feel of the movie.  It’s just a solid and rousing science fiction epic, and that’s the basic definition of good as far as sci-fi goes.

In fact, the only real problem with Sunshine is the holes that show up from time to time in the plot.  You’d think they would’ve caught most of this in editing, but nobody’s perfect.

I’d recommend Sunshine for any sci-fi buff and anyone who appreciates solid movie tech.  Not to mention anyone who likes a good limited-release movie title—this one didn’t exactly get the royal treatment.  I don’t even remember it being anywhere near my hometown and that’s the surest sign of a wide release.  But it’s still good, especially if you fit into one of my earlier categories.

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