Sunshine (2007) Review

Published in Cinemarolling by HayleyTheCat, on August 10, 2012

So I actually managed to watch Sunshine before the world ended, which is good because this film says it could be in 2057.

Before I get into my stride and tell you anything about this movie, or rant about the science of half of it, I need to explain a few things. I will be very biased now, seeing as I’m a big fan of Danny Boyle (who isn’t?) and Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Batman Begins, Inception). So it may be hard for me to stay unbiased all the time, but I’ll try.

Now, what did the critics think? Well, not surprisingly, Sunshine was well received. It has a 74% rating on rotten tomatoes, and a score of 7.3/10 on IMDB. One critic pointed out a flaw, that the film almost turns into a slasher towards the end, and that was possibly to appeal to a teenage audience (you’ll know what I mean by that if you’ve seen the film). I personally, bearing in mind I am a teenager, loved the excitement of the slasher style near the end, but I honestly didn’t think of it as a cheap attempt to appeal to people like me.

When I watched this film, I thought it was going to be a pretty steady ride, basically a drama that happened to be in space. I had no idea how it ended, or anything massive about the plot, apart from a few spoilers (which I will not share with you). Sunshine does an amazing job of confusing you, taking your breath away and just simply blowing every inch of your mind. This film has everything you need, a great plot, great special effects, great actors, a famous British director, and great inspiration. You don’t need to be a huge movie expert to notice that Sunshine was heavily inspired by films like Alien (1979) and 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968).

The basic plot of Sunshine is this: The year is 2057, and the sun’s dying (about five billion years too soon), so a team of scientists are sending a huge nuclear device to reignite it (despite the fact that they would need billions more). If you don’t know anything about science, this all makes sense. But if you have the slightest idea on how a sun dies, the premise is stupid. When a sun dies, it expands and becomes a red giant. I’m no expert, but I doubt that would be something we could control. But this isn’t a scientific documentary, it’s a sci-fi movie (emphasis on the FI). I can’t really talk too much about the plot without spoiling it, which seems to happen a lot on my reviews…