Sunshine

A sci-fi fiasco that wants to be the new 2001 but instead manages to be as simultaneously silly as Michael Bay's Armageddon and solemnly pretentious as Solaris (both Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 original and Steven Soderbergh's 2002 remake), Danny Boyle's Sunshine is—as they used to say in a less enlightened age about Vegas showgirls—beautiful but not very bright. In 2057, a spaceship is in the 16th month of a voyage to the sun, on a mission to shoot a Manhattan-sized nuclear device into the star to “restart” the “dying” (current scientific thinking notwithstanding) old sol, thereby reversing the permanent dark winter on Earth. The Icarus I, launched seven years earlier, mysteriously disappeared en route, necessitating the second expedition. The plot kicks in when a distress signal from the Icarus I is detected and a debate ensues as to whether to change course. What follows is a series of miscalculations that pit the crew against one another and endanger the mission, particularly after an Alien-style passenger inexplicably appears, harboring murderous intentions. The latest collaboration between Boyle and novelist-screenwriter Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later), Sunshine looks impressive and has a solid cast (including Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, and Rose Byrne), but the script is increasingly disastrous, leading to a supposedly deep philosophical-theological theme in the final reel that spins out of orbit. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (one with director Danny Boyle; the other with Dr. Brian Cox from The School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester), 47 minutes of “Web Production Diaries,” 19 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary, the bonus short films “Dad's Dead” (8 min.) and “Mole Hills” (7 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a disappointing film.] (F. Swietek)