I think I'm in love. I've reviewed a lot of movies this year. Some might say too many. Some might say not enough. I haven't seen many movies this year that have left me like this once they've finished. Sunshine (2007) is, to put it bluntly, one of the best movies I've seen this year, and the fact that I knew nothing about it going in just made it all the more special. Starring Cillian Murphy as Robert Capa, Chris Evans as James Mace, Rose Byrne as Cassie, Cliff Curtis as Searle, Troy Garity as Harvey, Hiroyuki Sanada as Kaneda, Benedict Wong as Trey and Michelle Yeoh as Corazon.
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| Sunshine (2007) |
Right off the bat, the scope of this movie is immense. To give you the quickest possible summary I can provide without spoiling anything, the sun is dying and a crew has been sent to the sun to bring it back to life with a 'solar bomb' of sorts after a previous crew was sent off 7 years prior and never returned. Yeah. Isn't that just a great premise for a sci-fi? The movie wastes no time hooking you in with one of the most impressive uses of the 20th Century Fox logo that wasn't for comedy I think I've ever seen. The title card only comes up about two minutes in, but as soon as it did I think I said 'Alright, I'm in'. The atmosphere doesn't build up over the first act or anything, it just hits you right from the first line and doesn't let go. The tone of a lot of this movie feels like Alien, but really only to the extent that there's a crew in space trying to complete a mission and you know something's going to go wrong and people will die. That's about where the Alien comparisons end. There's no alien threat that's picking off this crew. Here, the big threat is, for the most part, space itself. It's a real claustrophobic feeling the movie creates; that everything out there is actively trying to kill you and there's nothing you can do about it. That's really scary, and the tension ramps up as the movie goes on. I was holding my breath, I was glued to the screen, I was just so invested and that's the way all horror should be.
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| Cillian Murphy as Capa |
Not to mention, this movie is absolutely gorgeous. There's not a frame of this movie that I wouldn't print out and hang up on my wall like an artwork or on my fridge like a proud parent. The Sun is a big centrepiece for this movie, and they do a great job of making it not so samey throughout, even though it really is. Whenever they linger on the sun, they get the lighting spot on, in basically every way: the lighting itself, the shadows, the sensation of being just completely overwhelmed by light and heat, all of it. They manage to offset the magnitude of the sun with all the other big set pieces: the ship itself, both inside and out, the cold vacuum of space, the movie does a great job of seeming like it has a lot of variety in its set pieces when, really, there isn't. To add to this, the music is sublime. I can't exactly hum any of these tracks from memory, but that doesn't take away from how beautiful they are. When they need the movie to be suspenseful, the music does so. When they want to take a quieter moment to appreciate the beauty of space, they can do that too. It's a score I'd love to acquire to listen to just in general; I don't think I can stress enough how well put together this movie is overall.
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| Chris Evans as Mace |
For being a sci-fi horror, the plot is surprisingly straightforward. It's a basic 'Point A to Point B, with a surprise Point C thrown into the middle'. It never gets too convoluted, like some sci-fis feel like they need to be; it's all fairly simple to understand, and that gives us time to stop thinking about the ins and outs of the sci-fi elements and focus on the characters, which I'll get to in a bit. The science they use feels legitimate, to the point where I don't really want to know if anything in here is scientifically inaccurate or not; it all works for the movie and it feels grounded enough that I can hand-wave away anything that turns out to be not so grounded in reality. The story does go a little out-there towards the end, definitely leaning towards the more ridiculous side of the sci-fi spectrum, but I don't mind it at all. Initially, I just wanted the movie to stick to what it was doing, but not only does this other element lead to an intense third act and some genuine scares, but it's built up nicely throughout the movie without there really being any clues to it, which seems insane, I know. Look, without outright saying what it is, I can't really go into it any further, but know that it works and works well.
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| Rose Byrne as Cassie |
The characters are the last key element here: with such a small cast, if they're unlikeable, the whole thing falls apart. I really like these characters. They don't have insane levels of depth, but they're layered and varied enough that I can get behind them. The acting is top-notch across the board; there are some heavy-hitters in this cast. Cillian Murphy crushes it as Capa; being the focus for a lot of the movie, he managed to make me feel so much empathy towards him, to the point where I legitimately felt it when something happened to him. Chris Evans is great as Mace; after seeing him as Captain America for so long, it's nice to see him in a role with a little less empathy, albeit equally no-nonsense. Benedict Wong is a smaller role here, but I was genuinely crushed watching his performance; he might be the best actor in this movie. But, really, everyone gets their moment to shine, everyone brings their A-game, to the point where if a character was being selfish or, really, a d***, I was on their side to a degree, or at the very least, I felt where they were coming from. At this point, you may have noticed I haven't sad anything bad about this movie yet. I can't. I honestly don't think I could even nitpick at this point. This movie hit me harder than maybe most of the movies I've ever seen, period.
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| Benedict Wong as Trey |
Sunshine (2007) is a wonderful movie, and I highly urge you all to see it. The fact that this movie didn't make its budget back at the box office is a crime. Do yourself a favour. Watch this movie immediately. 10/10.
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