Paradise Reel

Sunshine

Synopsis: Fifty years into the future, the Sun is dying and Earth’s last hope of survival is a team of scientist on a journey to our nearest star with a mission to revive it.

My first encounter with Danny Boyle was a little known film called “Shallow Grave”. It was a movie that explored the dynamics of three friends and the limits of their relationships when they chance upon a bag full of untraceable cash falls into their hands. It had all the trademark Boyle trappings and I was hooked. “Trainspotting” cemented what I already knew about this off beat director from Manchester, “The Beach” was a romp on the wild side and I was onto “28 Days Later” faster than red on rash. So when I heard that Danny (we’re on a first name basis now) was coming out with a movie that harks from the sci-fi genre, you could bet your last dollar that I already had first day tickets.

There are only so many ways to scream in space, and Danny knows that all too well. His movies are essentially character studies. He throws his characters in a melting pot situation and explores the extremes that they would go to survive. “Shallow Grave” was about friends and money, “Trainspotting” was about friends and drugs and “The Beach” was about a paradise found and lost. His movies are akin to experiments on the state of humanity. And “Sunshine”, is no different.

Director Danny Boyle and scribe Alex Garland have worked together on “The Beach” and “28 Days Later” which would mark their third collaboration. A script lays the ground rules for any movie and the director takes it to a another level of creativity. An advantage of working with a scriptwriter whom one is familiar with is that there is almost a symbiotic relationship between the writer and director which usually results in a better made movie (Example of a bad collaboration: “The Matrix: Reloaded and Revolutions”). Both Boyle and Garland cobbled together a script that examines the intimate, not to mention delicate, balance of egos and personalities of a group of people, stuck together in what is essentially a metal coffin for a year and a half, hurtling through space on a mission where the fate of humanity rests on their success.

This is Cillian Murphy’s (“Red Eye” and “Batman Begins”) second outing with Boyle and company after his breakout role in “28 Days Later”. He portrays the unwilling physicist, who is responsible for designing the device that will hopefully re-ignite the sun, similarly to his role in “28 Days Later”. His character goes through a similar development arc from meek geek to the unwitting hero in this film and it is a role that he dons with ease. Cillian has a look of contained eccentricities that befits his scientist on a suicide mission role perfectly. Michelle Yeoh (“Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Police Story 3”) was a surprise treat for me as her role was not publicised in any form or manner for this film. She is a competent actress and it was a honestly a pleasure to see her be given more roles that allows her to flex her acting muscle instead of her physical ones.

Rounding out the cast is Chris Evans (“Not Another Teen Movie” and “Fantastic Four”) who pretty much rehashes his previous roles from “FF4” and “Cellular” but this time as the pragmatic hot shot pilot. Cliffe Curtis (“Whale Rider” and “Training Day”) plays the onboard psychiatrist/doctor for the company of scientists who tethers on the edge of sanity. Rose Byrne (“Marie Antoinette” and “Wicker Park”), Troy Garity (“After the Sunset” and “Bandits”), Hiroyuki Sanada (“The Last Samurai” and “The White Countess”) and Benedict Wong (“Dirty Pretty Things” and “Spy Game”) fill up the remaining crew members.

One of the highlights of this film would definitely be the cinematography. German borne Alwin H. Kuchler composes some of the most exquisite shots of space this side of “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Never will you find more well crafted spectacles of space since Kubrick’s cinematic masterpiece. He is able to bring you deathly close to the action or amplify the vast loneliness of space and still marry the two extremes within the same scene without having it ever be jarring.

If you love Danny Boyle’s movies, you are going to love “Sunshine”. He infuses well worn genres with his distinctive blend of style, cinematography and story that is just refreshing to watch. Do not watch this if you are a pop-corn sci-fi fan (the people who felt doomsday summer blockbusters like “The Core” or “Armageddon” were highbrow fare) for you will unfortunately find that the thrill-a-minute action sequences are considerably missing. But even if you are not a fan of science fiction, watch this if you are in the mood to have your brain lightly pricked and slightly picked for this is not your ordinary sci-fi flick.