Sunshine Movie Review

Sunshine, directed by Danny Boyle (of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later fame) and starring Cillian Murphy, is a film in which a group of astronauts are on a mission to reignite the dying sun. I saw this on Saturday night, but wanted to sleep on it a few nights and hash out what I really wanted to say about it. I want to address a few things that stood out to me, but not say much more, because I really urge you all to see it for yourselves.

First off, I want to express how much I loved this film. It is easily one of my favorites of the year, and while there is one major flaw I feel it falls prey to, there is too much about it to love, so I can get around that. That flaw is the villain. While I liked what they did with him visually and, for lack of a better term, spiritually, and I actually understand that the film needed him as a spark to set off the events that lead to its conclusion, I thought the intangible villains (the lack of oxygen for instance) were more powerful evils that the evil incarnate. It turned into a sci-fi cliche, and felt forced in many instances as just this cliche. However, that is my only gripe.

This film does an amazing job of combining morality, ethics, and spirituality into very relatable circumstances. These people are 2 years into a mission to the sun, and their mission is essentially to save the world. When they're out there, so isolated from everything and with these stakes, those moral and ethical questions are going to come up, and they have to make those decisions. They are essentially playing God with scientific brains, and that element of this film is fascinating. And the beauty of it is while watching this, I felt like I was right there with them every step of the way, and asking myself what I would do in a situation like this, and that shows that the film is really working.

I thought the cast was great. Cillian Murphy played the central character, Kapa, the ship's physicist and only member with the knowledge to use the nuclear device that was to reignite the sun, thus, he carries the heaviest burden. His acting was very understated in this movie, but very powerful and very good because of it. His character is really the one who makes the decision that leads to the chaos (of the last portion of the film) and won't let himself die until he makes things right and carries it out to the end. Chris Evans (Flamer in Fantastic Four) really surprised me. He was so great in this role, that of the astronaut that was so dedicated to the mission that he was against any changes. The way he saw it, the mission was so much bigger than all of them that it wasn't their place to risk it, but played in a very honest way. For instance, when one member was on suicide watch, they calculated that the ship had enough oxygen for everyone to survive if one less person was on board, so he says, "are you suggesting we let him kill himself?", and it was presented with such honesty, but really, those kinds of decisions have to be made in those situations.

Cliff Curtis might have been my favorite character. He played the psychiatrist on board, which is an odd person to be on a space ship, but when you think how long they've been up there, it makes sense. He really exemplified the spirituality in this film with his character's relationship with the sun. The two instances that exemplify this best for me were when he is on the observation deck, and his skin is literally peeling away due to sun damage, but he continues as if there is some higher power that he is connecting with in those moments. The second is when two crew members are repairing the outside of the ship, and the shadow that is protecting them is fading, so they must rush back before they are burned alive. While everyone else is freaking out because these characters are in such danger, Curtis's character simply asks, "what do you see." It's hard to explain, but these moments are brilliant.

I've rambled long enough, but I would just like to finish with the notion that, while this movie does have a moment that brings it from the pristine to the almost ridiculous, the first hour made such an amazing impression on me that I can't help but love it. It really works on so many levels, and it's just that close to being an almost perfect film.

On the Reganometer, I give this film a 9 out of 10.