<SPAN>Sunshine (Boyle, 2007)</SPAN>
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<SPAN>If there’s one thing about Danny Boyle, the director of Trainspotting and Millions, it’s that he’s got a strong flair for originality as well as a willingness to explore and experiment with different genres. Okay that’s two things, but whether he’s tweaking the zombie-slasher genre into the extremely successful horror/social commentary that is 28 Days Later or creating his own semi-plausible, mind-bending sci-fi film, it’s easy to spot Boyle’s uncanny ability to build refreshingly new experiences into his movies. In his latest film, Sunshine, Boyle channels the energy and wonder of classics like Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey -- all the while keeping his feet firmly planted in his own highly original science fiction creation. It’s a true testament to Boyle as a filmmaker that he’s able to capture the same sheer vastness of space and time as Kubrick and Scott without ripping them off, but he accomplishes it flawlessly, and in so doing launches Sunshine into the elitist of sci-fi company. </SPAN>
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<SPAN>Sunshine</SPAN><SPAN> is set fifty years into the future and follows a crew of eight astronauts and scientists who, aboard the Icarus II, are on a mission to re-ignite our dying Sun which has earth frozen in a perma-winter. Equipped with a Manhattan sized stellar bomb and ominously named after the Icarus I, a ship that failed while on the very same quest, the Icarus II and its crew are clearly destined for trouble. </SPAN>
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<SPAN>The success of Sunshine hinges largely on Boyle’s ability to keep us guessing. Will it be the massive metaphysical implications of such a grave responsibility that perturb the psyches of the crew members or will these eight humans living in extremely claustrophobic quarters while flying straight into the largest star in our solar system simply drive each other crazy? Or perhaps, while we’re all on the lookout for such distresses, something totally unexpected will take us by surprise. Boyle touches on many of these aspects briefly, which allows him to both avoid the trap of clichés and also to successfully dangle the biggest question of the film right in front of us without tipping the scales in either direction: will the crew ultimately succeed or fail? </SPAN>
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<SPAN>Sunshine</SPAN><SPAN> is a film that asks a lot of questions and induces endless wonderment about what it’d really be like to travel through the vacuum of space. Chief among the mind-probing aspects of the film are the absolutely breathtaking visuals, ranging from shots of deep space to various images of the Sun and even a gorgeous scene involving Mercury. Needless to say, the film leaves you with more than a few images permanently burned into your head, and they’ll undoubtedly come to mind when you glance up at the Sun. Another really intriguing aspect of Sunshine is its grounding in reality. Sure, it’s a science fiction movie that takes some scientific liberties, but our Sun will eventually die and it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that when it starts to happen, we’ll try and remedy it. </SPAN>
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<SPAN>The sci-fi features aside, Sunshine is still a film about both human interaction and human nature, and it couldn’t succeed without an exceptionally strong cast. Leading the way is Cillian Murphy as the crew’s physicist Robert Capa. Murphy’s familiarity with Boyle (they worked together on 28 Days Later) is quite evident as he gives a grippingly realistic performance that carries the film. Murphy plays Capa with a marvelous mixture of humanity and emotion that’s somehow perfectly fused with the weight of carrying the fate of the world in his hands. He wears his responsibility on his sleeve and as the crew member who has the most intimate relationship with the payload, it’s a great choice to have him guide the story. Surprisingly, not far behind Murphy is Chris Evans (of Fantastic Four infamy) in an excellent performance as the temperamental Mace, who’s in charge of Icarus’s computer systems. The rest of the cast, which includes Cliff Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Benedict Wong, Rose Byrne, Troy Garity and Hiroyuki Sanada, is similarly solid and as a whole, Sunshine’s actors really do form the perfect ensemble. </SPAN>
<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN>There are a few gripes out there regarding Sunshine, most of them concerning the final third of the film, but there really isn’t any problem with it at all and if anything, it gets stronger as it goes along. There’s no need to spoil it, but I absolutely love the “turning point” of the movie that’s supposedly its downfall and I believe there are many more interpretations to it than most people give it credit for. Either way, Boyle’s vision has something for everybody, regardless of what kind of movies you love: an intense pace, unbearable suspense, philosophical questions regarding God and existence, great acting, risqué directing and even one of the year’s best musical scores. Do yourself a favor and forget everything you’ve heard about Sunshine and watch it with, at the very least, an open mind and readiness to embrace the bewilderment and fascination of space, the Sun, and the awesomeness of the unknown.</SPAN>