The film Text copyright (c) Filmverdict 2006-present. Any film titles and artwork used are copyright of their respective owners.
Many films start with a metaphorical bang in terms of action but then fail to maintain a controlled series of interesting explosions throughout the running time to uphold a feeling of cinematic wonder. Writer Alex Garland's effort is really no different to this general rule and even though we are treated to an extended honeymoon period of great filmmaking at the beginning, a murky final half hour filled with flashes of subliminal images and attempts at gentle horror dampen the film's rawness. The James Bond pre-credits sequences probably epitomise these aforementioned huge attention-seeking introductory thumps which showcase extraordinary stunts of an extreme nature, but Danny Boyle's Sunshine needs no flashes of carefully choreographed exploits to capture the audience's imagination from the start. George Lucas has the advantage when it comes to visual spectacle as he creates a fictional world – you either love or hate his ideas of space. Boyle's team does very well on a reported modest production budget of under £20,000,000 and makes the restrictive visions of Mercury and the sun look like spectacular scientific exhibitions with strong overtones of accuracy. After a short monologue by Cillian Murphy's Capa, a physicist on Icarus II, the second spacecraft sent to re-ignite the failing sun with a stellar bomb, we are instantly engrossed in the situation of eight individuals on their mission to save mankind. We have no boring or over-emotional boarding processes; goodbyes are kept to a recorded message, and simple questions – why doesn't the ship melt in such unbelievable heat? - are left conveniently unanswered.
Boyle simply lets the story and characters develop knowing full well that the uncongenial backdrop of the sun will frighten the majority of the audience from the off. This tactic allows the characters to expand naturally, leaving the directness of Chris Evans's Mace or the selfishness of Troy Garity's Harvey to appear expected because of the diminished level of sanity the respective characters possess, but also shocking in accordance with the whole context of the film. The drawbacks which constantly greet the protagonists make the regular filmgoer realise that a Hollywood ending would be completely unsuitable at the conclusion of such outer space madness, but one can't help but think that the bodycount will surely stabilise at some point leaving the protagonists to complete the mission and finally shrink the release of adrenalin and tempo of events to emerge victorious. The strong ensemble keeps you guessing throughout with a stone-faced Murphy yet again turning in a showstopping performance, but Evans is also quite possibly a leading man in the making and Benedict Wong's Trey ("I fucked up!") is a great addition to a cast which endeavours to keep you on your toes by selling their plight imaginatively. The inclusion of diverting the mission to the lost vessel of seven years prior is obviously necessary to make the film less straightforward and to commence the tragedies, but why the hell include the Icarus I captain subplot? The theme of having impulsive and volatile crewmembers had worked very well up to Mark Strong's introduction as Pinbacker, and coupled with the natural horrors of the sun, Boyle should have had the film end with more of a shocking twist.
The summary
A very intense and engrossing space adventure which is unfortunately flawed. Danny Boyle isn't quite at noon but he certainly isn't venturing towards late afternoon.
