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The
Beach and 28
Days Later… duo Alex Garland (writer) and
Danny Boyle (director) re-unite with Sunshine, which is one
of the better space adventures I have seen in some time. The movie
is set in the year 2057, and mankind is facing extinction due to
the sun not generating enough heat and light thanks to a sizeable
amount of dark matter draining its energy. A team of astronauts
(among them Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, and Cillian Murphy) venture
to the sun in the Icarus II, with orders to drop a nuclear bomb
the size of Manhattan which should destroy the dark matter and bring
the sun back to its full capacity. Along the way the crew receive
a distress signal from the first Icarus craft which disappeared
mid-mission. In true sci-fi fashion their decision to investigate
proves to be disastrous, and excruciating choices are made - often
at the expense of human life - to deliver their "payload"
and save humanity.
Sunshine is a film which shamelessly wears its influences,
namely Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and
Ridley Scott's Alien, and this is not necessarily
a bad thing. If you are going to steal, might as well do it from
the best. Director Danny Boyle has crafted an extremely well paced
film, which features heart thumping thrills at the right moments,
breathing room for human drama between its weary inhabitants, and
awe inspiring beauty in its depiction of the wondrous universe which
surrounds the Icarus II as it ventures towards the sun. However,
an unexpected turn into the truly worn out slasher film in space
sub-genre confuses in its final act, and also disturbed this viewer
with it atheistic philosophical leanings, but more on that later.
A great cast of international character actors put on bravura performances,
and the visual effects are simply stunning, an impressive feat considering
the films budget was a modest $50 million (U.S.), which is sure
to put a crawl up the butt of the producers of over bloated SFX
films (re: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End)
who have a budget of $150 - $300 million and don't even come close
to the effects seen in this film. Also, the films equally eerie
and energetic score (a creation of UK dance act Underworld and film
composer John Murphy) provides the ambience needed for such a film
to be effective.
Now back to the films philosophical stance. I was not a big fan
of the atheistic undertones felt throughout the movie, especially
in its generic final act. Atheists Garland and Boyle (who have seemingly
converted actor Cillian Murphy during filming) make no qualms expressing
their views on science and religion, namely: science will ultimately
triumph over faith, and that the faithful are nothing more than
fanatics who will bring about the destruction of the world. It reeks
of the pseudo-scientific ramblings of Richard Dawkins and the like,
and marred what was an insightful and entertaining (if not clichéd)
film.
Visually stunning, well acted, masterfully directed, yet border
line offensive in its supposed logic concerning faith and its place
in the universe, Sunshine could have been quite the illuminating
piece of cinema had it not rested upon its fear and misconceptions
about the religious.
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