Scots director Danny Boyle’s (TRAINSPOTTING, SHALLOW GRAVE, MILLIONS) foray into the sci-fi genre continues after his largely successful apocalyptic 28 DAYS LATER.  This time on, the sun needs to be saved.  The sun is being destroyed from the inside. The only hope for mankind is the team of astronauts sent to detonate a massive, highly energetic bomb, able to destroy this strange matter inside the sun and restore its natural state.  Problem arises when the ship receives signals from a similar failed mission sent 7 years ago.  So they detour before igniting the sun with the nuclear bomb.

SUNSHINE is a rare intelligent sci-fi film.  The script by Alex Garland goes to some lengths to explain the details of the facts behind the problem as well as its solution.  By occasional teasing the audience with mind boggling scientific facts (light taking time to travel, so that a message from the mother ship will arrive 8 days later; time space warp etc.), SUNSHINE keeps its audience alert and educated or rather reminded of basic science theory. 

The ship’s eclectic crew is made up of a psychologist, biologist, astronaut and whatever occupation needs to keep the mission on focus.  Chris Evans (FANTASTIC FOUR) is in top form as the Captain trying to keep sanity aboard the ship while Cillian Murphy and Michelle Yeoh have a more difficult time convincing the audience that they are of the medical and biological professions.

What in initially got off on a good start and continued way into the first half eventually fizzles off during the last third when Boyle’s film transcends back to the typical Hollywood space thriller.  The crew that are bumped off are the non-Caucasians resulting in a predictable clichéd climax.  The happy sunshine ending is almost guaranteed to send goose bumps to anyone versed in the sci-fi genre.