Tonight at 0.40 Danny Boyle’s stylish science fiction psycho-thriller “Sunshine” is shown on Sat.1: In beautiful, spectacularly sunny settings, the Oscar-winning director tells a gruesome serial killer story…
In 2007, the science fiction genre was largely in the doldrums apart from TV material that had migrated to the cinema such as “Star Trek – Nemesis” and the criminally underrated “Serenity”.
But then “Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle came along and delivered a merciless and mercilessly good science fiction psycho-thriller with “Sunshine”, which no one really had on their radar before. A serial killer is on the rampage on a spaceship – and the cruelly beautiful shining sun is omnipresent in the background…
This Sunday evening “Sunshine” will be on Sat.1 from 00.40 hrs.
If that’s too late for you, “Sunshine” is also available on Amazon Prime Video:
THIS IS WHAT “SUNSHINE” IS ABOUT
50 years in the future: the sun is dying, the earth is already suffering the effects of eternal winter. The first attempt to restart the sun’s engine with a massive nuclear explosion has failed. There is no trace of the space shuttle Icarus I and its crew. Now, under the leadership of Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada), a second team is on its way with Earth’s remaining explosives reserves to take advantage of this last chance for humanity’s survival.
Shortly before reaching their destination, the crew receives a radio message from the Icarus I. Now physicist Capa (Cillian Murphy) is spoilt for choice. He has to decide whether to try with the one bomb as planned, or whether it would be better to fly to the Icarus I and thus double the explosive power…
It’s still a toss-up whether “Sunshine” will actually make the leap to science fiction classic – or whether it will have to eke out an existence as an unjustly forgotten cinema gem in the decades to come.
For me, Danny Boyle and his psychological thriller in space definitely deserve classic status! Although the “28 Days Later” mastermind has deliberately dispensed with his feverish, fast-cutting style of earlier days this time, he has succeeded in creating the strongest production of his career to date with his rarely seen space images, each of which would pass as a work of art.
At the same time, the breathtaking shots of the dying sun never degenerate into a mere end in itself but, despite their infinite beauty, always support the threatening atmosphere on board the Icarus II.
IN SPACE YOU CAN VERY WELL BE HEARD SCREAMING!
“Sunshine” not only looks mercilessly good – it is also exciting from the very beginning. But as soon as the Icarus II docks with the seemingly abandoned Icarus I, not only is the intensity ramped up again, but a whole new narrative layer is added:
On board the second space shuttle, everything indicates that the crew aborted their mission for religious reasons. But anyone who thinks that “Sunshine” will develop in the spiritual direction of “2001 – A Space Odyssey” could hardly be more wrong…
Danny Boyle consistently maintains his hard-hitting thriller style and does not use the religious references for metaphorical or philosophical elements, but tortures his already tense audience with effectively timed slasher interludes. A stringent horror dramaturgy, somewhere between “Alien” and “Scream”, robs the viewer of the last nerve – in a positive sense.
