Sunshine (www.the-usher.com)

"Our Sun is dying"

Our Sun is dying and as the Earth falls into an endless winter, the Icarus II spacecraft nears the end of its sixteen-month journey to our star. Their mission is to launch a nuclear payload the size of Manhattan Island and re-ignite the Sun but when the crew intercept the distress signal of the original Icarus mission, lost for over seven years early, they face a decision of whether to change course and investigate or follow the original mission parameters.

Diverse British filmmaker Danny Boyle makes his first foray into the realm of science fiction but can he re-ignite the genre?

Danny Boyle and his writing collaborator Alex Garland come together again and create a piece of science fiction that will soon be labelled as one of the classics of the genre. After working together on 'The Beach' and the zombie movie redefining '28 Days Later…', the pair have concocted a Sci-Fi story that is inventive and thought-provoking but also filled with action sequences and most importantly characters that you connect with and care about.

The premise is simple and plays out like the climax of an already established story. In the not too distant future, the sun is dying billions of years before scientists predicted. This has plunged the Earth into an endless winter that will cause the extinction of the human race. Seven years earlier, the first Icarus mission was launched to deliver a payload that will create an explosion so power that it will re-ignite the sun but it disappeared after passing Mercury. Now Icarus II is about to pass that same threshold and they have picked up a distress signal from the original mission, giving them a choice to make. Either they continue with their mission parameters or they deviate from them and investigate the signal and possibly gain two chances at delivering the payload. Of course everything doesn't go according to plan and all hell breaks lose, as the crew battle to complete the mission. This sounds like any other big budget, science fiction extravaganza that Hollywood has been churning out for decades but 'Sunshine' is different because of one thing, there is no huge name attached to the project.

Not relying on someone like Bruce Willis, Nicolas Cage or Tom Cruise to save the world single-handedly, instead we have an ensemble cast of character actors that bring a little more to the story. Not that this is a cast of unknowns however. Cillian Murphy returns to work with Danny Boyle again as physicist Capa, the man with the fate of the world on his shoulders as it he who has to make sure the payload works. You also have the excellent Rose Byrne as pilot Cassie, who is troubled by dreams of her own mortality and Michelle Yeoh brings some class to the proceedings as botanist Corazon. Chris Evans brings an American presence to the flight deck as by-the-book alpha-male Mace, Cliff Curtis is the sun-obsessed psychiatrist Searle and there are also good smaller roles for Benedict Wong as techie Trey, Troy Garity as the panicky Harvey and Hiroyuki Sanada as Captain Kaneda. There are some well-known performers here and this does lead to you making early conclusions as to who is going to survive but the quality of the script keeps you guessing until the riveting finale.

For a much lower budget than your usual Hollywood Sci-Fi blockbuster, Danny Boyle and his creative team manage to create a realistic and plausible vision of the future. Everything about the Icarus II looks and feels like it could be possible is fifty or so years time, with nothing looking far-fetched or impossible in that time frame. As well as the superb production design, the visual effects themselves are first rate, comparable to anything in the genre with far bigger budgets.

'Sunshine' might draw from many classics of the genre for inspiration but it utilises them with great skill to produce a film that will stand out as one of the best science fiction movies of the new millennium. Danny Boyle proves again that he is one of the most creative and diverse filmmakers working in cinema at the moment. The sun is definitely shining on him at the moment.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Widescreen 2.35:1 Anamorphic with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the transfer is good.

BONUS FEATURES

Commentary by director Danny Boyle
One of the best and most diverse filmmakers working today, Danny Boyle, is also one of the best at providing commentaries for his movies. The man behind the helm explains how the movie came about, working with Alex Garland again, the research he and his team had to go through to get everything as scientifically correct as possible and how NASA and scientists helped contribute to the movie. The look of the movie is also covered as the director provides an exceptional single person commentary.

Commentary by Dr. Brian Cox, University of Manchester
The scientific consultant gives an alternative commentary to the movie. He outlines his contribution to the production of the movie, helping the actors and talks about the theory behind the film. He also talks about the problems with going on such a long mission, problems with gravity and what technology could be like in fifty years. This is an excellent alternative commentary from a man who is clearly enthusiastic about the movie and the subject matter.

Deleted Scenes (19.01 mins)
Entitled 'Playing chess', 'It really takes it out of you', 'Washing carrots in the oxygen garden', 'Coolant redirection', 'Cooking', 'Wake up', 'Demolished oxygen garden', 'Scarle meets Capa', 'In deeper space than we are', 'Prepping for docking', 'Rough docking procedure', 'Fight and we die' and 'Alternative ending', these deleted or alternative scenes have optional commentary by director Danny Boyle.

Web Production Diaries
Entitled 'Danny Boyle introduction', 'Danny', 'Zero G flight', 'Gillian', 'Pre-vis', 'Science of the sun', 'Hiroyuki', 'Troy Garity's Harvey introduction', 'Voice of Icarus', 'Michelle and the Oxygen Garden', 'Anita scenes', 'Alwin Kuchler', 'Cliff Curtis', 'Bumps and stunts', 'Benny', 'The Science of Space Travel physiology', 'Space suit', 'Rose intro', 'Love letters', 'Chris Evans', 'VFX', 'Big Bangs' and 'The Science of Sun Death', these production diaries from the Fox Searchlight website have contributions from the cast and crew of the movie as they take you behind the scenes of the making of the film.

Short Films
Director Danny Boyle introduces two short films entitled 'Dad's Dead' directed by Chris Shepard and 'Mole Hills' directed by Dan Arnold.

Trailers
Watch the teaser and theatrical trailers for 'Sunshine'

Previews
Trailers for '25: Season 5', 'Prison Break: Season 2', 'Pathfinder', '28 Weeks Later' and 'Daywatch'

OVERALL

The DVD treatment for 'Sunshine' is one that fans will be pleased with. While it would have been better if they had been just a long featurette covering the production of the movie instead of the short production diaries but most things are covered here. The commentary tracks are extremely good however and fans will get the most out of these two tracks. This is a good single disc set.

DVD

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2007