Sunshine

by Jose

Perhaps borrowing a bit too much from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Danny Boyle does for space travel what he did for the zombie flick in 28 Days Later; he takes genre conventions and twists them into psychological character studies. This time it's the year 2057 and the sun has died, leaving Earth in a state of permanent winter. A crew is assembled to travel in the Icarus II; an intelligent ship carrying a bomb that will reactivate the sun.The crew is made up of what we assume are the best qualified people for the job and the first part of the film concentrates on watching their interaction as they solve problems and discuss the importance of their mission. As with the best of science-fiction, Boyle doesn't bother with giving us the causes of his setting. From the moment the film begins, we're introduced directly to these people's lives; Earth never appears since the only "interaction" the crew has with people back home are messages which they send (but which we don't know for sure if they are received). All of this helps in establishing an ambiguous mood that allows this to escape facile action set pieces and dwell on the idea of what it is that drove these people to do what they're doing.

Chris Evans is particularly remarkable as he steers from overusing his jock attitude and delivers a volatile performance filled with fear and doubt. Cillian Murphy, as the ship's physicist, results a bit too stoic, especially when the time comes for his character to take life altering decisions, but as the story unfolds it is perhaps his character who we get to know better. The lovely Michelle Yeoh brings a sense of balance as the ship's biologist who literally has created a world and must face its possible destruction. It's true their mission will assure life on Earth for a longer time, but maybe by the time they do it (and if they succeed) there will be nothing worth saving back home.With this premise, the story shifts into an ethereal theme which questions spirituality and the human need of self preservation.

During most of the first part nothing really "happens" in the film. Boyle takes time to pay homage to Kubrick with some of the most breathtaking sequences set in outer space, which result so beautiful and organic it's hard to believe they are all actually computer generated. In a time when even the most meaningless movie includes CGI, it is rare to find yourself in awe of the things which haven't been seen before. In Sunshine it is the star itself which steals the show and in one particular moment accompanied by the unusual, but effective, score, the film achieves a sublimity it fails to live up to in its closing act. It is here when Boyle abuses his Chekhov gun by introducing the Icarus I, which had left Earth seven years earlier but had mysteriously failed and is now sending a distress signal which the Icarus II receives.The film gives a whole turn here and the characters must come to terms with their very own mortality (especially when a mysterious and murderous passenger comes on board).

Boyle and Alex Garland's screenplay works most of the time, even if it's obvious that there were creative differences into the kind of film they were trying to create. As a pure sci-fi project, the events result plausible, suspenseful and most of the set pieces are effective within their framework. As a meditative approach to the idea that we can affect something we were meant to believe was greater than us, the implications achieve metaphysical depth worthy of Tarkovsky. Sadly, it doesn't work as both, and you will either come out having watched one disappointing film or being witness to a profound dialectic event between two points of view that never fit together, but nevertheless remain fascinating.