Sunshine

Plot synopsis:
In the year 2050, dark energy is destabilizing the sun, threatening all life on Earth. Scientists conclude that an experimental stellar bomb payload, with a mass equivalent to Manhattan Island, will flush out the infection and restabilize the sun. The Icarus I, a prototype spacecraft with advanced heat shielding and a sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI), is tasked with the arduous journey of transporting the payload. Unfortunately, the mission fails.Seven years later, a second attempt is made with the Icarus II. The crew consists of Dr. Robert Capa (Cillian Murphy) - the physicist overseeing the final calculations for the stellar payload's deployment and detonation; Captain Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada) - the focused, determined mission leader; Mace (Chris Evans) - the engineer who lends a military perspective to the mission; Dr. Searle (Cliff Curtis) - the ship's counselor and medical officer; Cassie (Rose Byrne) - the pilot who serves as the crew's emotional tether; Trey (Benedict Wong) - the tech saavy navigator; Harvey (Troy Garity) - the first officer and communication specialist; and Corazón (Michelle Yeoh) - the botanist who maintains the oxygen garden that provides both food and carbon to atmosphere recycling during the trip.It takes 16 months for them to get close to the sun, as mentioned in the introduction voice over by Capa. As the ship nears the sun, solar noise known as "the [communications] dead zone" begins to interfere with radio communications to Earth. As the ship encountered the "Dead Zone" seven days earlier than expected, the crew is now left with just 24 hours to collect all of their individual thoughts and send each of them off to their loved ones in a last message "packet".Capa has difficulty in finding his words, and makes several different attempts at his message, unintentionally "running out the clock" on Mace. A fight breaks out between Capa and Mace, which lingers as open animosity between the two, despite Mace's apology. Searle has Mace spend a couple of hours in the "Earth" room, which simulates sensual experiences on Earth. Afterward, Mace apologizes to Capa and they become civil toward each other.When the crew meets to discuss their latest progress, Corazón notes that while the ship is only about two-thirds of the way to its destination [the sun], the garden has been producing oxygen at better than expected rates - the ship already has enough oxygen stored up for the delivery, and a quarter of the return trip.Searle has become fascinated at looking out from the ship's viewport at the approaching sun and is curious what it would be like to experience the unfiltered view. The AI (voice of Chipo Chung) warns him that he can only tolerate 3.1% of the actual light, and Searle has Icarus set the system for 30 seconds of viewing at this 3.1% rate. The result has some kind of effect on Searle, who begins to spend many hours in the viewing room, repeating his exposures to the sun so often that his skin eventually peels away and sores cover his face.Captain Kaneda has been researching the video logs of Captain Pinbacker (Mark Strong), the commander of Icarus I, in an attempt to discover why the original mission failed, and thereby prevent his crew from making the same errors. He plays one video where Pinbacker describes a small meteor storm that did superficial damage, and is puzzled by Pinbacker's aloof reaction to the event.As the ship approaches Mercury, Harvey picks up a signal from the Icarus I's distress beacon, only hearing the faint signal because it was amplified by the iron in Mercury's mass. Emphasizing that some of those aboard Icarus I could still be alive, Captain Kaneda explains this point to the crew, and begins a discussion as to whether the current mission should be altered in order to check on the Icarus I's distress beacon. Mace is not happy with the choice to divert from their flight path because their mission to deliver the bomb has the utmost priority.Dr. Searle says that he agrees with Mace's assessment, but adds that diverting to the Icarus I could possibly add a second payload [bomb]. He argues that since the Icarus bombs have never existed before and therefore have never been actually detonated either, their existence is "entirely theoretical" and having two could be advantageous if something went wrong with the first one. There is further heated discussion, which Captain Kaneda finally stops by saying he is handing the decision to the ship's most informed person in these matters, their nuclear physicist, Capa.Capa is troubled by being asked to make this decision. He explains to the captain that he simply doesn't have enough information to make an informed and rational decision, and the best he can do is to "flip a coin." When Kaneda asks "So? Heads or tails?", Capa replies, "Heads: two last best chances are better than one."Capa's decision is finalized by the captain: both Icarus crafts will rendezvous together. Trey plots the course, checks it three separate times, and is satisfied he has been accurate. Trey shifts the Icarus II's course to intercept the Icarus I. In the many calculations, Trey misses one - the need to readjust the heat shield that protects the ship from the sun's radiation. This error is discovered when there is an emergency declared by the computer after slight damage to the heat shield results from Trey's mistake.The true extent of the damage can only be assessed, and then repaired, by leaving the ship and working directly in space. Captain Kaneda asks for a volunteer to accompany him and, after refusing to allow the second-in-command to join him, Capa is volunteered by Mace - this is Mace's way of stating that the current events are a direct result of Capa's decision to alter the original mission, and the "volunteering is clearly made in anger and not by deciding if Capa was the best man for the job." Nevertheless, Capa accepts the implicit challenge, and Kaneda agrees to let him accompany him on the spacewalk.As Captain Kaneda and Capa exit the ship in EVA suits to begin repairs, Cassie moves the Icarus II's position so as to provide the two spacewalking astronauts as much "shade" as she can. She does this knowing it will result in the loss of the two communications towers needed to return to Earth later. The tips of the comm towers burn up as they continue to revolve around the living quarters, in and out of the sunlight. In consequence, Cassie unwittingly sets off another chain of events, when the still revolving and burning remnants of the communications tower causes a beam of sunlight to deflect towards the centre of the ship and onto the oxygen garden. This results in a fire that initially the ship copes with, but soon it flashes out of control and threatens not only the garden, but the entire ship itself.Corazón rushes to her rapidly burning garden and requests entry, thinking she can save it but Mace, weighing up the situation quickly, realizes that the mission and ship will be lost unless drastic action is taken so he orders the computer to release all the stored oxygen in the tanks, to provide such an enormous boost to the fire that it will literally "blow itself out"; however, knowing too that this will completely destroy the garden.During this event, the AI begins to take automatic control of the Icarus II, in order to return the heat shield back to cover the living quarters as continued exposure threatens the mission (which due to Cassie is now protecting the two astronauts from being vaporized by mere direct exposure to the sun). Cassie realizes that this maneuver will result in the death of the two spacewalkers and she tries to countermand the order, but the AI refuses to be ignored.Cassie and the AI fight over control for a few moments, with Cassie eventually using an override command that needs to be authorised by a second crew member. Cassie turns to Mace to have him say his authorisation code but he refuses - he believes the mission far outweighs the loss of Kaneda and Capa. Cassie pleads with Harvey, who immediately issues his authorisation.Silently disagreeing, Mace directly calls Captain Kaneda and asks him to support him, countermanding the orders just issued by Cassie and Harvey - a decision that will result in his own (Captain Kaneda's) death and of Capa. Kaneda agrees with Mace that the mission is more important than his and Capa's life and the Captain tells the AI to resume corrective shading and proceed with the mission, which it does.As the ship begins to lose cover for the two astronauts, Kaneda orders Capa to go back to the ship, as he patches the last of the heat shield damage by himself. Capa complies, and shortly after, Kaneda fixes the remaining damage, and then meets his demise with exposure to the sun.Because of the loss of their oxygen garden, the astronauts now have no choice but to intercept Icarus I. Trey still blames himself and is put on suicide watch.Now alongside Icarus I, Searle, Capa, Mace and Harvey board to discover that there is enough food to last; a flourishing oxygen garden and a workable payload. However, there has been extensive damage to the ship's computer servers which will not allow the ship to move. A video log from Pinbacker, now sporting signs of disfigurement, suggests that the crew chose to scrub the mission, believing that humanity's impending destruction was God's will. Additionally, all crew members are found burned to death in the viewing room, the result of the filter having been turned off. The comment is made that if the Icarus I were not behind the shield of Icarus II, those seeing the burned crew members would suffer the same fate.While the crew are investigating, the airlock connecting the Icarus I to the Icarus II is mysteriously destroyed and both ships are pulled apart. They find one EVA suit that would let Capa go back (as he is the only one able to deploy the payload) to Icarus II. Harvey disputes Capa being given the suit because of his status as Captain following Kaneda's death. Searle stays to manually open the shafts while Harvey and Mace use the insulation of the ship to cover themselves so they can hold onto Capa as he is shot towards the Icarus II and make it in themselves. During the actual trip, Capa loses his grip on Harvey, who drifts off into outer space and is frozen. His body can be seen breaking apart when it collides with the ship and burning up when his corpse leaves the protection of the heat shield. Mace suffers frostbite but lives and rapidly recovers.As Icarus II leaves, Searle enters Icarus I's viewing room to prepare for his death, for when Icarus II leaves, there will be no shielding from the sun. He burns to death as the Icarus I crew did.Corazón calculates how much oxygen they have and how much they need to complete the mission. She concludes there is enough for four of the five of them to live to deliver the payload. It is decided Mace will kill Trey but when he goes to carry out the act, he finds Trey has already committed suicide. Mace very viciously smears blood on Capa's hand, blaming him for Trey's death and again the two fight, a battle that ends quickly in the low oxygen environment of the ship.In the payload room, the AI tells Capa that there is still not enough oxygen for all of them to live until they deliver the payload. He says that Corazón did the math and there should be enough oxygen for all four surviving crew members. The AI tells him that there are five people on board the ship, the fifth being in the viewing room. Capa races to the viewing room and discovers that Pinbacker is still alive. He is terribly burnt everywhere on his body and is clearly psychotic. He slices a wound in Capa's chest with a stolen scalpel and chases him through the ship. Capa makes it to the EVA suit room and locks himself in. Pinbacker pulls the safety lever, trapping Capa in the room. Pinbacker then removes the ship's computer servers from their coolant just as he did on his own ship.In the burned-out oxygen garden, Corazón finds a single seedling rapidly growing out of the newly burnt soil, giving her and the mission hope of not just survival but even returning to Earth. As she calls Capa and Cassie to the room, Pinbacker kills her. Mace goes into the cooling unit to fix the Icarus II's mainframe by immersing himself in the coolant. He is caught in the machinery, his leg injured and bleeding, and he eventually freezes to death. Pinbacker also chases Cassie, who hides in the front of the ship, in the nuclear payload.Trapped in the EVA suit room, Capa talks to Mace before he dies. Mace, in agony from the freezing coolant, tells Capa he'll have to manually decouple the nuclear payload from Icarus and fly it directly into the sun. Capa escapes from the room by donning an EVA suit, puncturing the inner door with a welding torch and releasing the outer airlock door. Many of the ship's loose contents and Corazón's body fly out of the ship and Capa gains access. He decouples the payload and walks to the front hatch of the ship. As the payload and Icarus II drift apart, Capa uses the propulsion unit of his EVA suit to fly to the payload. As he reaches it, the payload's thrusters fire, burning up part of Icarus II. The rest of the ship burns up and explodes.Capa goes into the payload to manually pilot and ignite it. There he finds Cassie hiding and is confronted by Pinbacker. The two grapple with the psychotic Pinbacker and escape his clutches. Capa manages to ignite the payload and as the nuclear reaction begins, he finds peace, accepting his death and staring into the flames of the sun as it looms ever closer.Back on Earth, Robert Capa's sister (Paloma Baeza) and her children (Archie and Sylvie Macdonald) are outside in a park covered with snow as she watches the last message sent to her by Capa. A brighter than usual sun is seen finally breaking through the clouds over a frozen Sydney Harbour, showing that they succeeded in their mission.

Tags: dark, psychological, fantasy, murder, cult, atmospheric, melodrama

Review:
From the opening sequence - simple yet effective and revealing so much about the character in question - right through to the end, I was gripped.Oddly for a sci-fi film, the power isn't in the effects or the sheer fantastic nature of the plot, it's in the people.
Unlike so many other films, the characters are human and they act like humans - there is no casual detachment and needless bandying of glib phrases.The effects are exactly what they need to be in balance to this - believable but not distracting from eight very dynamic performances; complementing rather than show-stealing and over-awing.All in all it's more of a psychological thriller than a traditional sci-fi extravaganza and whilst this has been done many times before - 2001: Space Odyssey, Solaris, Silent Runnings; to name a few - Sunshine does it superbly and without fault.
Cillian Murphy in particular is a piece of inspired casting, as in many of his roles he has always appeared on the very brink of insanity anyway, so he has the close-to-crazy act down to a tee.The CGI of the sun is extremely impressive, particularly considering the relatively low budget of the film, and the simple but intense story has viewers on the edge of the seat virtually from first act to last.
Cillian Murphy (brilliant as ever) and Chris Evans (hated him in Fantastic 4, but showed a great performance here) pair up very nicely during most many scenes.The entire movie has a certain feel to it, the atmosphere is very tense and Boyle manages to keep the pace at quite a high level the entire time.
To be perfectly frank, this is one of the most unbearably exciting films for whose entire duration I have ever squirmed in my seat for at the theatre.On a mission to re-ignite the sun by detonating a bomb ("the size of Manhattan island", Cillian Murphy's physicist nods to American audiences and cause me to suffer horrible flashbacks to Armaggeddon's "it's the size of Texas" assessment) human lives are expendable and rationalized by rank.
Amongst other films, Danny Boyle was inspired by Das Boot and certainly there are traces of the same claustrophobia underpinning the setting, but ultimately he opted for a more habitable environment to make it believable (like humanity would ship off its only hope with a crummy, crowded old vessel).To justify the occasional bouts of sci-fi clichés, I'd like to firstly point out that it's not like "Sunshine" traffics in stereotypes or resorts to formulaic elements, and secondly that I believe certain clichés have evolved for a reason  they quite clearly stand the test of time.
There are within science fiction some staples that are simply necessary to define its genre, such as the dutiful human sacrifices to up the drama, the internal mutinies to instill the uncertainty in the operation, the nightmarish conditions onboard the ship to suck you in, the technical jargon of velocities and shield angles that spits like bullet-fire to give the film a firm scientific footing, and finally the epic music to elevate suspense.
But just as the movie was heating up, it's like the script writer got carried away with all these ideas and decided to cram them all into one film.If they had just stuck with a single, well thought out story line and a few plot twists, it would have been great.
But that is no bad thing, molding elements from great sci-fi past with his own intriguing story has given Sunshine a tremendous heart, to which Boyle then manages to cloak it with high quality drama.
After reanimating the zombie genre with 28 Days Later, director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland now turn their attention towards science fiction - with equally startling results.Sunshine is unequivocally the best sci-fi movie in a very, very long time.
That doesn't mean that it isn't well thought or anything like that, but the human drama and psychological journey of the characters is the primary concern in the film, and the fact that they are going to re-ignite the sun is merely the background story that puts them all together in the first place.
It acts like a self-portrait, where the film becomes the paint and you become the painter.The plot follows a crew of eight scientists/astronauts who set out on an epic mission towards the Sun, a star which is dying due to internal deterioration by a "Q Ball" (see http://www.sunshinedna.com/?p=236).
And this is a breathe of fresh air again, after an era of sci-fi pop-corn movies such as Armageddon, easy rollercoasters where the only thing that can give a spark of emotion is Aerosmith's soundtrack.Now, let's play, just because other did, the game of setting the point of references Danny Boyle studied(and widely used) to direct Sunshine; of course, the movie is plenty of scenes and moments borrowed from 2001: A Space Odissey, Solaris, Alien and, yes, Event Horizon.But I would add another clear source of inspiration: the fantastic video game "System Shock 2".
Cillian Murphy was, surprisingly, the weak performance of the film and even if he is playing a physician, it seemed like a padded character who gave exposition and when tried to give some depth, ended up making it just a tiny bit more dimensional.
It also renders a lot of scenes without complete resolution and raising far too many questions.The third act pretty much loses point on any kind of theme or other secondary plots and seems to just want to rush towards the ending and get it all over with and in the end, we're left with a film that leaves itself to float in space.
These "high concept" scifi films are hardly new, and more often than not the sfx plays second fiddle to the story, Not here Director Boyle was in love with his film and it shows in the risks he took to convey his own personal image of what it means to try to tell the Sun what to do...The repeating themes of heat and cold (the latter when the computer loses it coolant) are also worth watchingMurphy carries the film but in fact the cast does a great job playing second fiddle to the brightest star in our solar (ahem) system.Unappreciated and under-rated.
By doing so we are engaged in the story and characters and the future of mankind."Sunshine" not only accomplishes this, but in a very subtle way dives into the realm of time-space warping and the bending of physics as we know it without ever discussing how or why (and I won't give it away, find it if you can).I don't know of any film this brave in its subtext since 2001.
There are way too many inconsistencies.) I know the director tried to make something new; after all stories about space ship, sun, nuclear weapon and sacrifice, cowardice are made again and again.However, techniques like: shaking the cameras from time to time, making blurring shot, or inserting horror pictures several seconds at a time doesn't make the movie original.I wasted 2 hours to watch this movie from cable.
To begin,this is Danny Boyle to a tee,he creates some wonderful moments between each of the characters for example the first viewing of the planet Mercury as it glides across the face of the sun,the camera simply expresses the look of wonder on each and every member of the crew and his style of never quite showing us the sole survivor of the doomed Icarus 1 yet his image is firmly embedded in every scene he is present.
Much like audiences failed to understand the ending of 2001 so many years ago on its release it seems the same effect has happened with Sunshine and many consider the ending boring,even going as far to say it is the worst ending to a movie they have ever seen,lets understand the ending however because it is not meant to be a happy ending by any means it is simply put an ending that is meant to relay beauty,the chain reaction of the Stella bomb igniting and the awesome power of the sun finally meeting at so called ground zero and for a split second the doomed sole survivor Cappa is caught between these two immense forces colliding,he experiences the true beauty of Sunlight,this moment in the movie to me sums up Danny Boyles film making style period.
Edging in as Boyle's best, and at least most visually and ideologically- ambitious film, Sunshine takes science-fiction into the realm of existentialism, and balances out the loss of immediate life with the "big picture".
The script, by the way, is also extremely rich in how we actually get completely enveloped- as a character might when coming face to face with the sun- in the constant peril because a) they're not one-dimensional twits or walking contrivances, and b) the suspense level is at its highest peak as far as trapped-in-space movies go since Alien (one of Boyle's major influences, as one can tell).But the idea of choice, and bad decisions, and the level of monumental responsibility, is cranked up all the way for these people: that it's not just really all humanity, though there is that, and it's not just planet Earth, though of course there's that as well, but it's as if there's the complex sensation of having to put yourself totally out of the equation, that your own life and the life of the one sitting next to you are as worthless as the last breath taken from a man caught out in space without a suit (one of the most haunting images in the history of contemporary cinema), because of something that is taken so often for granted and is, indeed, something quite abstract.
And then, of course, is the character (I won't spoil anything- as it said in the press packet specifically not to) who has become totally immersed in his dementia and loss of all hope by thinking he has a direct line to God.Sci-fi films need good ideas, and in fact ideas that can reach up to the level that the director goes to with his vision, to truly succeed.
And as Boyle and his crew go to great lengths to make this move in a seamless manner, there's many a moment of suspense and terror struck up not just by the Alien influence but by more subliminal techniques and sudden shock value (a dream scene where Murphy drifts towards the sun is a knockout), with jump cuts that are as gripping as any of the infected in 28 Days Later.But after considering how much of a sensational movie this is, it fills me with seething anger to think of the double-standard that Fox is practicing in the release date.
The cast surrounds actor Cillian Murphy as Robert Capa, who keeps his nerve, while all other, including Cliff Curtis, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh and Hiroyuki Sanada as space-walking, sunshield-repairing and ultimately sunlight-confronting Captain Kaneda, slowly get consumed by an space-travel assignment that is believed to be suicide in the name of humanity in the purest sense.Director Danny Boyle, clearly admiring Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) and "Alien" (1979) directed by Ridley Scott, makes his own signature mark on the genre of science-fiction with the picture "Sunshine", benefiting from Alwin Küchler's innovative as striking cinematography embedded in golden gloss of the death-bringing star in the midst of our solar system underlined with a mesmerizing original soundtrack by composer John Murphy, who created with his track "Adagio in D Minor" an ear-piercing high-emotion pitching centerpiece of music, which carries the main theme within the constant pounding, constant thrilling film for a 100 minutes throughout to be encountered by the unknowing as returning viewers alike.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC).
A "Hail-Mary" Mission to Save Earth from its Dying Sun is an Intense, Beautifully Displayed Entertainment with Vibrant Visuals accompanied by a Sound-Track that Wraps the Film in a Packaged Presentation that is Highly Suspenseful and Literally Attacks with a Sensual Overload and Creates an Extreme In Your Face Experience.To say that You Experience the Movie is an Understatement.
The Look, the Sound, the Situation, and the Crew are there to be Absorbed into the Pure Fabric of the Viewer's Physiology.The Movie Attaches Itself to the Bodily Fibers and it Feels like the Gravitational Force of the Sun is so Amazingly Attractive that it is No Wonder that Humans have Worshiped its Gaze since the Dawn of Man. It's Pure Magnetic Magnificence and Life Sustaining Energy is by Definition "God".The Movie may Falter in the Final Act and can be Confusing, Chaotic, and Concluding the Story seems Difficult for the Writer (Alex Garland) and Director (Danny Boyle), but Boy the Voyage to the Center of the Solar System is Heaven for Adrenaline Addicts and Lovers of "Take a Ride" Cinema.Note...Many Folks like to show off when reviewing, or more precisely, attacking Films of this nature by pointing out the "Laws of Physics" and so forth.
I wasn't sure what to expect going in to this, but it had me from the get-go.Boyle deftly achieves a delicate balancing act - Sunshine is alternately thrilling; awe-inspiring; philosophical and transcendent.Films like this often get bogged down in their self-perceived epic-ness, but Sunshine always feels grounded and real, taking a lot of inspiration from the original Alien in this respect.Cast is uniformly great, but particular attention must be paid to Hiroyuki Sanada as the Captain.
"Sunshine" is an hour of pretty good movie completely ruined by a disastrously terrible final 30 minutes.Danny Boyle's latest exercise in feel-bad cinema finds a crew of astronauts on their way to launch a mega-bomb at Earth's dying sun, hoping to revive it and save the fate of humanity.
I saw a preview screening of Sunshine in Sydney on August 11 and whilst I was very impressed with the stunning visual effects and incredible sound design, I ultimately found the movie disappointing.Danny Boyle has done a terrific job creating the world of a spacecraft.
Teaming up with Alex Garland, who wrote the novel The Beach, and the story for 28 Days Later, they team up again for this futuristic science fiction thriller, where a group of astronauts and scientist, aboard Earth's last hope for salvation - the Icarus II, in an attempt to deliver a "payload" of nukes to the Sun's core, to reignite our solar star and bring warmth back to a freezing Earth.From the onset where the Fox Searchlight logo makes way to the horizon where the sun peeks over valley and mountains, Sunshine wastes no time in establishing our crew of 8 - Capa (Cillian Murphy from 28 Days Later) the physicist, the MVP crew member who knows how to activate the bomb, which makes him not only valuable, but provided a minor plot hole quibble about this indispensability, Mace the engineer, played by Chris Evans, in a major departure from his usual jock roles in Cellular and Fantastic Four, Corazon (Michelle Yeoh) the botanist, in charge of the agriculture, hydroponic food and eco-garden to provide oxygen on board, Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada, whom I last saw in the dismal The Promise) as the Captain, Cassie (Rose Byrne) the pilot of the Icarus II, Searle (Cliff Curtis) the doctor, Harvey (Troy Garity) the communications officer who finds his value dip when his equipment got fried, and Trey (Benedict Wong) the navigator whose "to err is human" shakes up the entire movie.It does seem like the jolly crew of the Enterprise really boldly going where no man has gone before, doesn't it?
In the end though, if you enjoy sci fi films , with some cool special effects, and a nice storyline then Sunshine is a must see, as it stands above most of the previous outer space flicks in nearly every aspect..
This is one of those sci-fi films where characters stand around talking lots of technical jargon designed to trick viewers into thinking the plot is plausible, and then get overly emotional and start yelling when the mission goes horribly awry.Boyle has always been one of those directors with an obnoxious visual style (lots of hand-held camera work, an obsession with bright whites and golds, and quick-cuts) who somehow manages to tell decent stories.
I had high hopes for this film as it recombined the talents of Danny Boyle (director), Alex Garland (writer), and Cilian Murphy (lead actor) from "28 Weeks Later." The idea that Boyle could do for the journey- in-space film what he did for zombies was exciting.However, I can only ascribe the good reviews the result is getting to people who have never seen other science fiction movies or "Outer Limits," much less read anything in the genre.
Sunshine never escapes the black hole strong gravity of its predecessors and any pretensions it has of been a film in the league of Alien or even the so-so Event Horizon, which it copies from in addition to many others (and is itself a copy), are crushed by our knowledge of those fresher and frankly more entertaining space bound adventures.What we do get is a lot of talk about moral compromise, does man deserve to survive, the sun as God making final judgement, etc but if you're already wondering if this adds up to anything, rest easy  you won't be thinking about any of these things after you've seen the movie because you'll have forgotten it by the time you get to the pub for the post-view discussion.
The combination of director Danny Boyle, writer Alex Garland and actor Cillian Murphy should have meant that Sunshine was the best film of the year so far.
But it's when Sunshine tries to be a psychological-thriller and a sci-fi and a horror flick and an action movie that it all starts to go horribly wrong as a film.