Sunshine

This movie really got to me. Because I'm the kind of guy who thinks a lot about the end of the world. How it's going to look. What exactly is going to happen to us? One of those considerations, of course, relates to the extinction of our sun. That big yellow ball I curse on these hot days. Danny Boyle, a director whom I didn’t know very well up until now (of course I'm going to change that now) literally glued me to my seat and dazzled my eyes with breathtaking visuals and great direction. The actors were also perfectly cast. I'll just mention the brilliant Cillian Murphy and the surprisingly great Chris Evans (this guy has a promising future ahead of him, I'm keeping my fingers crossed). What more to say. Best movie I've seen so far this year. (15/06/2007)

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)

Danny Boyle's contribution to the sci-fi genre is sort of a pleasant compromise in the end. Sunshine doesn't stand out for its pomposity or bombastic visuals, but it's exactly halfway between a grand space adventure and a cramped survival drama. Unfortunately, the script slightly staggers in its second half, but thanks to precise direction it is still a rather impressively made sci-fi, and for very modest money. (30/06/2018)

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)