You Are My Sunshine Review

Okay, okay, so I knew what was coming. I knew that here was another film I had developed unreasonably high expectations of that I was sure to be disappointed in. So in that respect, I guess, Danny Boyle's Sunshine certainly didn't disappoint. Ooh...how paradoxical.


Don't get me wrong here: I did actually enjoy Sunshine for a good deal of it's running time. The performances were generally fine, the story was interesting, the effects were flawless, and the cinematography is nice and crisp. I'm a sucker for science fiction which emphasizes the loneliness and isolation of space and the insignificance and vulnerability of humanity, and Sunshine does those things very well.


In case you don't know, Sunshine is set in a future never explicitly time-lined, but probably not too far off, where the ship Icarus 2 is headed for our dying sun carrying an immense nuclear payload designed to reignite it. The first Icarus disappeared in an attempt to carry out the same mission seven years previous (EVENT HORIZON! EVENT HORIZON!). As they slingshot past Mercury, the crew of Icarus 2 receive a distress signal from what seems to be the Icarus 1...
(and by the way, if you want to go into this film as a total virgin to it, then you may want to stop reading now)


Which is a nice enough set up. The dilemma faced by the crew as they try and decide what to do (head for Icarus 1 and potentially threaten the mission? Or carry on and miss out on perhaps rescuing any surviving crew as well as the possibility of picking up a second payload?) is played out well, creating tensions and rifts among the shipmates. And the various space-faring perils they encounter all create a healthy level of tension. The fact of the matter is, I was enjoying the hell out of this film. And then the last half hour happened.


Y'see, without spoiling too much, the film weirdly morphs from fairly gripping science fiction film to not all that exciting slasher flick. It's not too bad, and I imagine on seeing this again I'll be a lot more forgiving of it as I know what's coming, but it was quite the letdown at the time. Not just for how this final part of the film plays out, but also for the fact that the film seems to touch on a number of ideas that it never explores more fully.

In short (as I have to go outside now and get in some actual sunshine - the weather here has gone golden!), I did enjoy it, but there is plenty of disappointment in wait around that 3/4 bend.