Susan Granger’s review of “Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight)
Evoking “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Solaris” and “2010,” Danny Boyle’s stunning sci-fi thriller is an intense metaphysical odyssey into the unknown.
In 2057, our sun is dying and mankind faces extinction. Earth’s last hope is Icarus II, a spacecraft with a crew of eight astronauts led by pensive Captain Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada). Their mission is to detonate a massive nuclear device on the sun to re-ignite it by creating a star within a star.
Deep into their voyage, amid emotional tension generated by their claustrophobic condition, the communications officer (Troy Garity) picks up a faint distress signal from the Icarus I, which disappeared on the same mission seven years earlier. Since that’s followed by a miscalculation by the navigator (Benedict Wong) which destroys the biologist’s (Michelle Yeoh) vital oxygen-producing garden, the physicist (Cillian Murphy) recommends that the pilot (Rose Byrne) rendezvous with the orbiting older vessel to heist replacements. He’s opposed by the ship’s engineer (Chris Evans) as the on-board psychiatrist (Cliff Curtis) becomes increasingly obsessed with the gloriously bright, fiery Sun. Compelling moral dilemmas abound. Then a pivotal moment occurs when the soft-spoken computer (reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s HAL) detects a new, mysterious, otherworldly on-board presence that questions the essence of the Icarus mission.
With his “28 Days Later” and “The Beach” collaborators – writer Alex Garland and producer Andrew Macdonald – Danny Boyle sets forth a provocative premise that eventually dissolves into an insane killer-on-the-loose religious fanaticism but not before the cinematic stylist – utilizing the talents of cinematographer Alwin Kuchler and production designer Mark Tildesley – dazzles with extraordinary visuals depicting the physical and psychological hazards of space travel. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Sunshine” glows with a gripping, adventurous 8, giving new meaning to The Big Bang. Awesome!
