20th Century Fox / Anamorphic Widescreen / 107 minutes

Ever since I saw 28 DAYS LATER I’ve been a huge fan of the man that redefined what a zombie was capable of … namely, zombies that can run and jump after your ass. That movie scared the crap out of me and so I was glad to see Danny Boyle embrace one of my most beloved genres, science fiction. SUNSHINE (2007) is brilliant (literally). And I just love a slow churning space opera predicated on that ultimate of space missions — saving humanity.

It is the year 2057 and the sun is burning out. A highly specialized crew has been sent on behalf of the Earth to detonate a bomb the size of Manhattan Island and reignite the sun. The spaceship carrying the world’s last best hope is aptly named Icarus II and like any attempt to save humanity from certain celestial death, Earth’s first rescue crew aboard the Icarus I has been out of radio contact for 7 years. When a distress call from the Icarus I is intercepted the question is — Should the crew take the risk of altering course and checking out the derelict spacecraft? Of course! Once underway, the Icarus II suffers all manner of space emergency in attempt to save the Earth first and themselves second.

While SUNSHINE is set only 50 years into the future I can appreciate the reasoning for creating a future of space travel that may seem a little more tangible than say, a Galaxy-class starships. It’s utterly ridiculous to think the sun could burn out in 50 years time but then, so is the prospect of thinking we could do anything at all to stop it. Luckily my childlike excitement for the fantastic adventures of humans in space overpowered my critical “adult” alter ego this time around.

One of the film’s finest moments comes when Icarus II approaches the hard, dry planet of Mercury. Given the paramount task before them, the crew gathers in the ship’s obligatory room-with-a-view and take an idle moment to ponder the awesome existence of the solar system. The tiny black silhouette of Mercury shakes and jitters against the backdrop of the sun and its solar winds. The special effects are magnificent here and offer a mere glimpse at the incomprehensible size of our star and the heavens in orbit.

The crew is comprised of some great actors. Capa (Cillian Murphy) is the most important guy in the ship since he’s the physicist in charge of the bomb payload. Everyone else on the ship is expendable which logically leads to his or her individual deaths. Murphy of course starred in 28 DAYS LATER and continues a successful collaboration with Boyle. I was delighted to see Michelle Yeoh playing Corozan, a science-officer type in charge of the vitally important oxygen garden. It was disappointing that she wasn’t able to use any of her ass-kicking ability while on board. But in the same vein as her turn in MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, SUNSHINE offers a fun opportunity to see her in a more dramatic role. The cool Captain Kaneda is played by RINGU’s Hiroyuki Sanada, psych-officer Dr. Searle by Cliff Curtis from WHALE RIDER and VIRUS (ha!), and Chris Evans from THE FANTASTIC FOUR plays the heroic Mace.

There’s something to be said for the talent of actors that sign up for these kinds of effects-laden films. There are a couple of scenes in the Earth Room, a holodeck depicting scenes from earth to ease the rigors of deep space travel. Capa uses the room to simulate the delivery of the payload and in doing so Murphy must react to the yet to be rendered comuter imagery. In reality he’s looking into thin air! Sanada, Curtis and Murphy in particular have the challenge of portraying the breathless agony and awe that a human might feel when met face to face with the sun. Each undergoes a sort of transcendence that might leave one questioning whether this is the sun they meet with or perhaps the face of God.

Boyle explains in the commentary that much of SUNSHINE merely echoes the themes and characters of legendary films that preceded it. The ALIEN motif is evident in the compassionate “Hey lets answer that distress call” attitude and the doom that it brings to such space-going Samaritans. The Icarus II vessel is right out of 2001, complete with omnipotent computer voice over (albeit far sexier than HAL’s). Its asymmetry and bulbous bodily components stretch out behind the solar shield like a skyscraper turned on its side. And without giving away spoilers I’ll just say that there is a character that spreads terror a la Colonel Kurtz near the end that is quite scary. The similarity with Kurtz is certainly there but the entire third act of the film reminds me more of the finale to ALIEN than APOCOLYPSE NOW. It’s a neat idea but I don’t know if I’m convinced by the execution.

The film I think SUNSHINE most emulates is the 1997 haunted-house-in-space EVENT HORIZON. Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, HORIZON had me about ready to pee my 18-year-old self when I saw it in the theater. It’s interesting to watch both Boyle’s zombie and sci-fi movies and then to examine Anderson’s flicks EVENT HORIZON, RESIDENT EVIL and to a lesser extent ALIENS VS. PREDATOR. They are all very similar in style and I imagine the two are either aware of it and hate each other or admire each other’s taste in production design. Those crazy Brits…

I would be incredibly remiss if I did not mention the music of SUNSHINE. Pardon the pun but there’s something otherworldly about the sound Underworld lends to the film. The sounds are melodic but discordant. Clear but distorted. They are sounds that seem to have originated in the stars themselves and lend a perfect accompaniment to the terrifying choices Capa and crew must make. John Murphy’s traditional score fills in the gaps, harmonizing well with the stellar CGI moments of grandeur.

As mentioned, the DVD contains a commentary by Danny Boyle but also physicist Dr. Brian Cox. Cox explains the accuracy of the filming from a scientific viewpoint but also gleefully reminisces on his own involvement with the stars of the film and that of his first filmmaking experience in general. There are also two experimental short films created by some of the crew that will be interesting to those who like the avante garde. There are also deleted scenes available to pick through as well as an alternate ending, which fortunately did not make final cut. Twenty-three making-of vignettes are available that were also located on the film’s website prior to the movie’s release. Each little video is edited with the panache of a Tony Scott film. Shots are deliberately out of focus or improperly composed. The video itself contains faux distortion and picture artifacting and almost every edit is a jump cut. It’s as if the hard drives containing the footage got too near a very large nuclear heat source of some kind. Huh.

There’s nothing little miss about SUNSHINE and I highly recommend the ride. 4 super-bright stars: Shamefully Choice!