Movie Review - Sunshine

Sunshine (3 of 5): Last Monday night, I had the opportunity to go to Chicago to check out an advanced screening of Sunshine before its wide release on July 20th. Sunshine is set 50 years into the future and follows a group of scientists and astronauts in their voyage to re-start our solar system’s dying sun. Along the way, the crew encounters the original ship that was sent to perform their task seven years prior and a horror that lies in wait.

Sunshine is a science fiction movie with horror elements introduced into the third act. I liked the science fiction, but I didn’t like the horror. It’s obvious that a lot of thought, consultation and time was spent to create a world that feels as though it could exist 50 years from now. There are some very interesting and cool scenes that the science fiction elements of the movie make possible. Unfortunately, in the end, the horror elements of the third act ruined my full enjoyment of this film. Its not that I dislike horror, but I think that Sunshine would have been better as just a pure science fiction film without the horror elements that seemed out of place and almost silly.

Performances are pretty good all around. The actors and actresses succeed in drawing moviegoers into the film to make them feel like they are a part of the crew on the ship. If you pay close attention you’ll notice that even the sun is presented as an actor in this movie, which is cool. Of course, this being a Danny Boyle film, the score and sound effects are terrific, although not as good as in some of his previous movies, i.e. Millions, 28 Days Later and Trainspotting. The special effects are also very good for a lower budget film, fully convincing me of their reality.

Overall, Sunshine is worth a viewing if you are a fan of space/science fiction movies - there just aren’t a lot of them out there these days, so we have to take what we can get. The story is unique, there are many exciting scenes, and the “science” of the film seems legitimate and interesting. Unfortunately, the third act of this movie is quite a departure from the rest of the film and I have a feeling will distract many people from a complete enjoyment of the movie.

PS - After the movie was over, the audience was treated to a Q & A session with the director, Danny Boyle. I expect to write up my thoughts on that portion of the evening within the next week, so stay tuned!