Danny Boyle's Sunshine Outshines
Journey to the Center of the Sun Destined to Become Sci-Fi Classic
Feb 29, 2008
Danny Boyle is one of the most versatile directors working today. He first garnered international attention with 1996's trippy Trainspotting. Since then, he's done a romantic fantasy/crime movie (1997's A Life Less Ordinary), an adventure film (2000's The Beach), a zombie flick (2002's 28 Days Later...), and a sweet family picture (2004's Millions). 28 Days Later... is the film that really put him on the map. It is still his most famous, as well as his most financially successful by a long shot. Boyle attacked and reinvented each of these genres with his characteristic passion and breathtaking signature visual style.
Here Comes the Sun
Sunshine is Boyle's most audacious film yet. It is also his best. But would the science-fiction genre be ready for Danny Boyle's brand of cosmic brilliance? The answer appears to be "no." Sunshine flopped big-time, despite generally positive critical reviews. Sci-fi audiences have been conditioned to expect cheap thrills and minimal thinking. Sunshine is not that movie. However, that's what sells. Just look at George Lucas' most recent Star Wars trilogy. The general consensus is that the movies aren't very good, but they made astronomical amounts of money. Still, the success of Sunshine cannot be measured monetarily. Its value goes to infinity and beyond.
Space: The Final Frontier
In 2057, the sun is dying, leaving humanity on the brink of extinction. Sunshine follows the world's last hope, the crew of the Icarus-2, on their dangerous mission to drop a bomb into the middle of the sun. It's like another big bang, resulting in a new sun and humankind's salvation. With all the global warming awareness today, this plot sounds painfully plausible.
Sunshine is a suspenseful, intelligent, thought-provoking action/adventure/thriller, set in outer space, that raises important questions about philosophy, psychology, faith, and life in general. It has everything! What a shame that it has been so ignored. The film also has a great ensemble cast in Michelle Yeoh, Benedict Wong, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis, Troy Garity, Hiroyuki Sanada and Boyle-favorite Cillian Murphy (also of 28 Days Later...). All the acting is superb, but Yeoh, Evans (of Fantastic Four fame, he finally gets to show his stuff), Curtis, and Murphy are especially good.
Never Has the Apocalypse Been More Beautiful
The real stand-out of Sunshine is the remarkable ship that the crew inhabits. It's massive, intricate, and looks totally real. This film has some of the most dazzling, mind-blowing production design of the year (or ever), as well as unparalleled visual effects. Sunshine contains some of the most vivid colors (blues, whites, greens, yellows, and especially the sun's blazing orange) ever captured on film. Painting Boyle's brilliant space canvas required incredible cinematographic skill. It's simply staggering. The sound (design, mixing, editing) is also phenomenal. How Sunshine got overlooked by the Academy for sound and cinematography, but particularly for production design/art direction and visual effects, is beyond comprehension. Combine the cast, Boyle's directing, a sensational script by Alex Garland, a great score, and all those aesthetic achievements, and Sunshine is a masterpiece.
In Good Company
Sunshine is poetic, intense, visceral, moving, radiant, meditative, and overwhelmingly gorgeous, in both how it looks and what it says. No film has even come close to conveying the larger-than-humanity, awe-inspiring power and pure, raw beauty of outer space like Sunshine does, not since Stanley Kubrick's 2001, released almost forty years earlier.
Rating: ***** (out of 5)
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