Sunshine: Critic Reviews

While the unfathomable burning brightness of the sun bathes the whole picture in flashes of cinematic dazzle, Boyle and his team ground the story in details chosen for their sophisticated, underplayed authenticity.

As the ship moves closer to the Sun, and people and things begin to fall apart, Mr. Doyle and his screenwriter, Alex Garland, goose their science fiction with action- and horror-genre beats, increasingly turning up the chills and thrills.

Stunning sequences and gobsmacking Nasa-graphic visuals which are destined to be shown on giant Imax screens around the country.

The pressure to save mankind is enormous, and our attention grows as the tension mounts. Light is used in haunting and powerful ways throughout. But as the film ultimately deviates from its course, the entire undertaking suffers.

Beam yourselves aboard Sunshine, set 50 years in the future. The voyage works, beautifully.

If their [Boyle and Garland] movie doesn't float your boat as a work of science-fiction, action, philosophy, heliocentrism, or staggering visual spectacle (although, it really should), then it certainly succeeds as a parable for cinematic ambition.

Funny thing is, Sunshine works despite feeling both over-familiar and over-ambitious.

We don't know if we're watching a thriller or a sci-fi parable, a utopian dream or a deeply cynical nightmare. But in the end, it may not matter. The whole thing burns out well before the director reaches his final destination.

Who cares? The characters are so sketchily drawn that it's hard to keep them straight, let alone get worked up about their survival.

On sci-fi's crowded table Boyle serves a fresh feast for our eyes, minds and hearts.

For Mr. Boyle, a Swiss Army knife of a filmmaker, there's always something new.

The first hour and change is gangbusters, the last part unnerving enough to get by.

The film is nonsense, and what counts is whether viewers will feel able to lay aside their logical complaints and bask in what remains: a trip in search of a tan.

...science-fiction fans will like it, and also brainiacs, and those who sometimes look at the sky and think, man, there's a lot going on up there, and we can't even define precisely what a soliton is.

Near-classic modern science fiction.

Boyle's spiritual and metaphysical musings intertwine neatly with his pop sensibility, imbuing this with an art-house intelligence without diluting its summer blockbuster appeal.

At a certain point, like a dying star about to pop into eternal nothingness, the movie can't be seen as anything -- it just implodes.

Sunshine quickly fades from near-brilliance to dim potboiler.

Not as good as you'd expect, but with Boyle expectations are almost unfairly high.

Other movies may explore the depths of outer space. This movie explores the shallows.

Like a collapsing star, Sunshine initially burns brightly but finally implodes into a dramatic black hole.

So what starts out as fascinating sci-fi becomes just fi, and winds up pulp fi.

Sunshine comes with the promise of 2001: A Space Odyssey, as imagined by Danny Boyle. Even as Armageddon as imagined by Danny Boyle, it doesn't disappoint.

Sunshine -- despite a title so at odds with the film's tone -- is engrossing, believable and intelligent sci-fi filmmaking at its best.