Sunshine film review

certificate_15

SUNSHINE

Danny Boyle was once the leading light of British cinema, notably in 1996 when Trainspotting became the film that would define the decade. Perhaps inevitably, his subsequent output has never quite reached the same heights, with A Life Less Ordinary tormented by studio interference, The Beach making more news for its production stories rather than its substance, and his last film Millions suffering from poor audiences. Only 28 Days Later captured some of the real spark he showed in his early days.

Sunshine is his first effort at science fiction, and the results are lukewarm. It may be a treat on the eyes - given a reported 18 months of post-production it really does look stellar - but it suffers from a dreadfully clunky and barely coherent script by fellow former wunderkind Alex Garland that is little more than an exercise in self-importance.

Set fifty years in the future when the sun is dying, the film charts the progress of the crew of the spaceship Icarus II, who are heading directly towards the solar planet in order to detonate a huge bomb and rekindle its fire. Presumably the irony of the spacecraft's name is intentional, and we learn early on that its predecessor floudered on the same mission seven years earlier.

A typical motley gang of international actors make up the crew, with Cillian Murphy the most notable name among them. After a decent start, things slowly begin to unravel. They discover a faint signal from the original craft and decide to alter course to investigate: a decision that will have far-reaching results for all of them. When their oxygen supply is threatened, it becomes a game of survival, as they are picked off one by one. Finally, in the film's third act, a rather inexcusable and unbelievable event happens which suggests that neither the screenwriter nor the director really had much of an idea of how to resolve their story.

If you've never seen a science fiction film before, then it's possible that Sunshine will dazzle you. The problem is, most people have actually seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Armageddon and even Event Horizon, and Sunshine simply begs, borrows and steals from all of them. This is much to its detriment, because despite all of its visual flair, the finished product is clouded in a fog of pretension.

Paul Hurley