Movie Review - Sunshine (2007)

It always feels good to watch a movie that has a good science fiction theme. It’s always better when the theme hits close to home (natural disaster). What I’m referring to is the movie “Sunshine” (2007). This movie was directed by Danny Boyle (responsible for 28 Days Later).

The movie follows a team of astronaut scientists on a journey to re-ignite the sun. It is the year 2057 and the sun is dying which of course will translate to a dying earth. The mission is to reach the sun’s core and drop some sort of nuclear bomb strapped to the spaceship and then make a getaway. Easy enough right? Apparently there was a ship already dispatched to do this 7 years prior but lost contact. Things go bad when they locate the lost ship and make preparations to intercept. Some calculations are missed and the shields are not positioned accordingly which causes damage to the ship. The mission is now compromised by an unknown source sabotaging the computer systems. It is up to the remaining crewmembers to drop the payload at all costs.

I think I’ll leave it there for now as I don’t want to spoil it. There is a bit more to it but you will have to view the film to find out more.

I really enjoyed this film. The imagery was fantastic, I mean being up close to a burning sun. The camera work and effects were amazing. The acting was pretty good; everyone had their part and played it well. The movie pace was decent; you could tell it was building towards something.

I saw a lot of influences from other movies, (some of which I recently watched). For example: “2001 Space Odyssey”, “Dark Star”, “Silent Running” and a bit with “Event Horizon”. It was nice to see certain elements being used, it just pulled together to produce a worthy film.

I do recommend watching this film. It was good solid science fiction fun. I rate it 7.5/10 but note that the horror element was unnecessary. Anyone seen this?