Sunshine (2007)

Director:

Danny Boyle

Writer:

Alex Garland (written by)

Release Date:

27 July 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

If the sun dies, so do we.

Plot:

A team of astronauts are sent to re-ignite the dying sun 50 years into the future.

Plot Keywords:

Sun | Earth | Astronaut | Icarus | Physics

Awards:

1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Cliff Curtis	...	Searle
Chipo Chung	...	Icarus (voice)
Cillian Murphy	...	Capa
Michelle Yeoh	...	Corazon
Hiroyuki Sanada	...	Kaneda
Rose Byrne	...	Cassie
Benedict Wong	...	Trey
Chris Evans	...	Mace
Troy Garity	...	Harvey
Mark Strong	...	Pinbacker
Paloma Baeza	...	Capa's Sister
Archie Macdonald	...	Child
Sylvie Macdonald	...	Child

MPAA:

Rated R for violent content and language.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

UK:15 | Finland:K-13 | Singapore:PG | Ireland:15A | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Germany:12 | Malaysia:U | Australia:M | New Zealand:R13 | France:U (with warning) | Argentina:13 | Sweden:11 | Brazil:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | South Korea:15 | Norway:15 | USA:R (certificate #43132) | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Australia:MA (DVD rating) | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Company:

DNA Films

Trivia:

On the DVD commentary, the Science Adviser Brian Cox bets the viewer £10 that they (CERN) will not discover the Q-ball particle that disables the Sun in this film's plot. He invites an email to claim the bet. That claim is due in 2017. (In the same commentary, Dr Cox also says that scientists do not gamble!)

Goofs:

Factual errors: As pointed out by one of the characters, the ship enters the "blackout" area around the sun (and loses contact with Earth) anomalously early, before Mercury's orbit in fact. Communications from this close to the sun are not a problem in reality (and were possible with 1970s technology), but the writer and director took deliberate creative license to improve the tension.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Capa: Our sun is dying. Mankind faces extinction. Seven years ago the Icarus project sent a mission to restart the sun but that mission was lost before it reached the star. Sixteen months ago, I, Robert Capa, and a crew of seven left earth frozen in a solar winter. Our payload a stellar bomb with a mass equivalent to Manhattan Island. Our purpose to create a star within a star.
[long pause]
Capa: Eight astronauts strapped to the back of a bomb. My bomb. Welcome to the Icarus Two.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#38.3)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Peggy Sussed

A crew of eight tries to save mankind from freezing to death

I was very lucky being able to get into a preview of this movie today in Vienna. I only knew very little about it in advance, so my expectations were quite neutral.

One word of advice: this movie is not for nitpickers or physicist. The plot outline (i.e. detonating a "stellar bomb" inside the sun) sounds ludicrous at first - but if you're able to ignore this and some other scientific nonsense, you get one great movie.

This one is all about the details and the crew's behavior. Danny Boyle once again proves his insight into the human psyche as he portraits how the crew-members handle the various arising problems, some of the decision-making is displayed frighteningly realistic compared to other movies in the genre. Cillian Murphy (brilliant as ever) and Chris Evans (hated him in Fantastic 4, but showed a great performance here) pair up very nicely during most many scenes.

The entire movie has a certain feel to it, the atmosphere is very tense and Boyle manages to keep the pace at quite a high level the entire time. Visual FX are at a high level as well.

Apparently Sunshine can't deny the influences from 2001 or Event Horizon, nevertheless it should be treated as an independent film.

A few deductions for some glitches and the scientific stuff, otherwise great entertainment!