Sunshine

Sunshine is too low-budget and chatty, and with too many interior shots for a grandiose mainstream sci-fi movie, and it’s too unoriginal and clichéd for an intelligent intimate drama. We know practically nothing about the characters, we have already seen almost every twist in the story elsewhere, and the film is visually austere, at least one level worse than Event Horizon. I don’t like to say it, but even the silly The Core was more fun than this. Danny, stop with this bullshit and shoot Porno (note for those not in the know: the announced sequel to Trainspotting). (14/03/2007)

When I first saw Sunshine a long time ago, I was absolutely blown away by it. Today, after watching it again, my enthusiasm has somewhat diminished. I realize that there are a lot of inconsistencies in the movie, and the slightly horror-themed plot element bothers me a bit as well. But it is still an extraordinary audiovisual experience after all these years. And Cillian Murphy as the savior of planet Earth? What more could you ask for? (75%) (20/08/2020)

Never mind that according to the scholarly press, Sunshine is science fiction with the most scientific and technical nonsense in years, because Danny Boyle's extremely evocative direction trumps every plot misstep. Whether it's the scene of adjusting the solar filter, repairing the protective panels, or the impressive flyover of Mercury silhouetted against the backdrop of a hot solar disc, Boyle has managed to awaken in me what I last experienced with Zemeckis' Contact: a fascination with space. And surprisingly, even the killer "zombie" at the end, whose existence in the film is so criticized, didn't bother me at all. On the contrary, with his "role" as a self-proclaimed god, he gave the film a tantalizing mysterious dimension. A must see if possible in the cinema, this is an audiovisual juggernaut designed for the big screen. (05/09/2007)

Visually impressive and with a very unconventional premise, but the end result is unfortunately somewhat mixed. Thank God it's not about philosophizing on the origin or decline of humanity (although someone occasionally utters something along those lines), but rather a fast-paced and intriguing sci-fi flick with a few truly action-packed and intense moments. Surprisingly, there is a lack of scientific jargon and analysis, which is good because viewers usually have a hard time understanding them. The problem are the characters, they are only superficially sketched and we don't really learn anything about them. Then there’s the unnamed immigrant, who sticks out like a sore thumb, and it’s precisely because of this that this solid sci-fi film loses most of its attractiveness and appeal, as towards the end it becomes just clichés and a cat-and-mouse game. Despite this fatal flaw, I must say that it is a very unconventional work and as such it cannot be rated merely average. (02/05/2007)

Out comes the sun and dries up all the rain... If it weren’t for the needless screenwriter excess toward the end, Sunshine would have been a very good and intelligent catastrophe sci-fi picture. This way it remains “just" in the very good picture category. That excess is all the more disappointing because due to it the movie undergoes a pointless and demeaning complete change of genre for about ten minutes; such a good screenplay deserved a better idea. Boyle played around a lot with the visuals and it is really surprising to see just how many shades of yellow exist. The soundtrack is rather unusual, but the ambient harmonies of Underworld complements the overall atmosphere curiously well. Sunshine could have easily slipped into a deluge of pathos, heroic speeches and lots of clichés... But it didn’t and, thanks to it focusing on the excellently played characters, it remained teetering on the edge of intelligent popcorn movie cut with a picture with greater reach i the style of A Space Odyssey. And that’s really good. ♫ OST score: 4/5 (20/04/2007)