Sunshine
(2007)
20th
Century Fox
Cast:
Cliff Curtis, Chipo Chung, Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh.
Rating:
R.
Run
time: 110 mins
Genre:
Science Fiction.
Verdict:
Bland
(see rating
system)
I'm
getting all burned up thinking how good this movie could have
been.
The
premise is great: it is 2057, our sun is dying because of
some freak cosmic event and a courageous crew of astronauts
on a mission to recharge it with a massive nuclear device
are mankind's last hope of survival.
The
crew of the Icarus ll know just how perilous their mission
is - their predecessors aboard the Icarus 1 lost contact with
Earth and are presumed dead. All available nuclear material
has been scraped together for this final attempt.
Pity
the movie doesn't get off the launch pad.
Director
Danny Boyle (28 Days Later) and his production team are so
wrapped up with the undeniably fine special effects that they
hired a cast lacking in star power. Hell, if Daniel Craig,
Clive Owen, Matt Damon, Hilary Swank or actors of similar
presence had been aboard this would have been a very different
movie.
Yes,
there are some very exciting, sometimes scary sequences -
even though you can see the major plot turning point coming
several million miles away. But the eye candy isn't enough
- the human element must be strong and it must connect, and
here it doesn't.
The
movie hardly set the box office on fire, reportedly taking
about $32 million worldwide, and less than $4 million in the
U.S.
Some
deleted scenes, the featurette The Science of Sun Death and
a couple of totally unrelated, pretty awful short films (Dad's
Dead and Molehills) are among the extras.
One
for sci-fi fans only - particularly those with a big screen
setup.
