Since his first film, Shallow Grave, in 1994, Danny Boyle has consistently delivered both enjoyable and intellectually stimulating movies. Films like Slumdog Millionaire and Yesterday are pure entertainment, while Trainspotting and Steve Jobs offer deeper, more challenging themes. 28 Days Later and his often-overlooked film, Sunshine, fall somewhere in between – they’re exciting and thrilling, but also explore the characters’ emotions and relationships. Sunshine shares a premise with disaster movies like Armageddon, Deep Impact, 2012, and The Day After Tomorrow, but it’s remarkably different in its overall feel and approach.
Rather than focusing on big, flashy moments, *Sunshine* centers on a diverse team’s desperate attempt to save Earth and how that struggle impacts them personally. However, the film unexpectedly shifts gears into a genre that critics haven’t traditionally favored.
Where Does Sunshine Falter?
The premise of *Sunshine* is incredibly captivating. Set in 2057, the Sun is dying, and a previous effort to restart it with a bomb failed. Now, a new international team of astronauts is embarking on another mission to save Earth from freezing by reigniting the Sun.
The crew’s mission takes a turn when they receive a distress signal from the *Icarus I*, the ship that flew this route before them. Some on board think finding the *Icarus I* could allow them to collect another valuable cargo. However, others argue it’s best to focus on their primary objective: delivering the bomb directly to the sun.
The film maintains a good level of tension with the disagreements among the crew of the *Icarus II*, and things get even more complicated with a series of unexpected twists. A mistake by the navigator, Trey (Benedict Wong), leads to the death of the ship’s captain, Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada). When they discover the *Icarus I* and explore it, the crew argues over who should use the single spacesuit. The situation becomes even more dire when they realize there isn’t enough oxygen for everyone, leading to a vote to decide who will sacrifice themselves – though the person chosen ultimately takes matters into their own hands.
The movie features several suspenseful and impactful events for the crew of the *Icarus II*. About thirty minutes before the end, it’s revealed that the captain of the original *Icarus I*, who appeared to have lost his mind in a recorded message, is hiding on board the *Icarus II*. This unexpected twist dramatically changes the film, shifting it from a science fiction thriller to a horror-style slasher movie.
The captain of the Icarus I, Pinbacker, feels like the least developed character in the movie. While we learn about everyone else throughout the film, he appears late and we’re expected to see him as the main source of conflict. We only know a few things about him: he was a captain, he went crazy, he’s badly burned, he murdered his crew, and he believes Earth should be destroyed. It’s a bit disappointing, considering how well the other characters are fleshed out.
Despite Mark Strong’s performance, the character Pinbacker doesn’t really come to life. He feels more like a generic and unlikeable version of Freddy Krueger than a fully developed villain.
Pinbacker relentlessly chases Cillian Murphy’s Capa, Chris Evans’ Mace, Rose Byrne’s Cassie, and Michelle Yeoh’s Corazon throughout the ship, killing Corazon and leaving Mace to freeze. Capa then steers the ship’s payload toward the sun, with Cassie on board. Just as the alien creature attacked Ellen Ripley during her escape, Pinbacker confronts Capa, ranting about God, but it’s too late – the mission succeeds.
Basically, this movie is a classic sci-fi where everyone dies. However, the fact that humanity as a whole survives makes the deaths of Capa and Cassie feel much more meaningful and impactful than the death of Corazon, who seemed like just another victim in a long, drawn-out space horror.
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2025-10-19 21:13