Considering it's 93 million miles away, it's rather amazing that our sun provides enough heat and light to sustain life on Earth, and I'm guessing everyone's happy it's only half way through its estimated shelf life of 10 billion years. Of course, while it's obviously a good thing for humankind, it's also bad, not just in terms of creating sunburns, but also skin cancer, not to mention the need for cooling when we're titled just that much closer to its surface in the summer months.
One can imagine then what it's like when the distance between the two bodies decreases, which is clearly of great concern for the crew of the Icarus II. Still 36 millions miles away, the ship's onboard computer can only let 3.1% of its intense rays into the solar viewing area lest the observer fry up like some unfortunate ant on the wrong side of a kid wielding a magnifying glass on a sunny day.
Yet, the 8-person crew has more than just friend ants on the brain. After all, the future of humankind back on dear ol' Earth is anxiously awaiting word of success of their mission. For they're not explorers, but instead are traveling to the center of the solar system to try to jump-start Sol back into high gear, what with the recent lowered output leaving southeast Australia looking like an Antarctic outpost.
Complicating matters is the discovery of the first mission that failed and vanished many moons ago. Realizing that its jump-start payload might still be intact, the crew figures two chances are better than one, and detour off for an inter-space rendezvous.
But with a video transmission from the first ship's captain indicating something of the second coming of Colonel "Stella!" Kurtz (that being Marlon Brando's crazed military officer character in "Apocalypse Now"), they must decide, like Spock said back in "Star Trek II" whether the good of the many outweigh the good of the few, especially in the glare and turned up heat of the sun.
Such is the setup in "Sunshine," the latest compelling pic from filmmaker Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting," "28 Days Later"). Feeling like a far more mature and intelligent version of "we must save the world" flicks like "Armageddon," the movie shares similarities to that an other sci-fi fare including but certainly not limited to "The Black Hole" and "Event Horizon," not to mention two little extraterrestrial movies known as "Alien" and "Aliens."
Featuring a compelling premise, a solid, multinational cast with good performances, and an arresting visual look complete with state of the art special effects, the film starts off great, gets better as it goes, and then completely burns up in the third act. Perhaps that's inevitable considering the cool if not particularly wise naming of the rescue ships (after the Greek son who got the ant treatment after flying to close to the sun via his waxen wings), but it's still disappointing.
I've always been a fan of what I like to call the thinking person's sci-fi (rather than the whiz-bang special effects or action laden extravaganzas that have long dominated the genre), and this one initially plays just like that. While those who favor the latter might find it slow and/or ponderous, I appreciated the initial tone and themes that Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland establish.
Granted, there are perhaps too many fly-bys of the ship's exterior (presumably to remind the impatient that this is a sci-fi film), but the mood and pacing are just right. Thus, when the third act finally arrives and suddenly turns the pic into an action-based horror film (complete with a scary looking boogeyman intent on killing everyone), everything that's been built up quickly melts away as fast as dear old Icarus.
It's unclear if that was Boyle's original intent or the result of outside meddling ("It needs more action! It's sci-fi, you dolt!" or "I'm paying the bills, so rework the ending, pronto!"). While what happens isn't that unexpected considering the clues and foreshadowing that's present, the transition from smart if methodical to dumb and fast is nevertheless jarring and unnecessary.
Initially feeling smart like the first "Alien" film in terms of intelligent and "realistic" sci-fi, but then turning into a less than stellar example of that and the horror genre's action, "Sunshine" is bright and enlightening early on, but loses its intensity when unnecessary plot developments and/or outsider intervention cast a shadow over everything. The film rates as a 6 out of 10.
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