Sunshine

20th Century Fox

R4 DVD

Sunshine is an intelligent and visceral English science fiction film, directed by Danny Boyle of 28 Days later, this time he explores the world of outer space and mankind’s ecological future. Fifty years from now, the sun is dying, and the earth is dying with it. Icarus was sent on a mission to re-ignite the sun but has gone missing and so some years later Icarus II, the earth’s final hope, is sent with a crew of eight men and women with a device designed to re-ignite the sun and give the world and all the creatures on it a new chance at life.

As they travel into space interpersonal clashes begin to occur and difficulties arise but it is when they travel past mercury that a true crisis unfolds. They hear a distress beacon and realize it is coming from the original Icarus ship. They debate the merits of diverting their journey by some distance to answer the distress call and while humanitarian considerations come second the fact they make have access to a second nuclear device and hence two chances at re-igniting the sun sways them to divert their trajectory. As calculations are done manually to achieve this goal a mistake is made which had fatal consequences, the ship is damaged, their food supply destroyed in a fire and their oxygen in running out.

When they find the original Icarus the crew is found to have lost their minds and burnt themselves alive, it seems they became convinced that the death of the sun is a natural course of events and should not be interfered with. Unknown to the crew of Icarus II the insane captain of Icarus has made it on-board their ship with the express aim of stopping their mission at all costs.

This is a startling film of quite some beauty, the cinematography is superb and creates a mood which saturates the film from the first few minutes to the very end, it is enhances by an excellent soundtrack and faultless special effects. While the CGI is of the highest quality the film itself is focused on character development. You come to know each of the members of the crew through the journey and empathise with their decisions and sacrifices. The final section of the film with the battle between the crew and the insane captain of Icarus is powerful and keeps you right on the edge of your seat. Boyle regularly uses unusual camera angles, strange colour palettes and surreal editing to create a truly unique cinematic experience.

Reviews appear on the Synergy website with a single cover image. In the digital and print edition, reviews appear with multiple images and with expanded content.

This review will appear in Volume 4 No. 2 of the digital and print edition of Synergy.

We recommend you download the free digital edition (or buy the print edition) to get the most from Synergy. The print and digital editions of Synergy also include a large selection of articles and features not found on the website. If you have a limited download quota you can view the digital edition via the Issuu viewer on the digital edition page.

If you came to this page directly (and missed our menu), click here to go to the front page of Synergy Website or use the following link: http://www.synergy-magazine.com