thomas4cinema

Without doubt, “Sunshine” has the most beautiful sun I have ever seen in a movie. Extremely regrettable that I did not see it on a big screen, I am sure it would have been amazing, especially together with the subtle soundtrack that gave me an eerie feel about the whole film. I initially wondered why someone like Doyle would want to make a film with such a slow and reflective premise: a couple of people traveling to the sun, which takes a while, trying to save the world on some very abstract level. Not too many aspects of the plot appeared to offer the kind of kinetic energy that I link to Danny Boyle’s name. But then again, who am I to judge, having only seen (or at least only remembering having seen) Trainspotting and 28 Days Later (I suppose I must have see “Shallow Grave” and “A Life Less Ordinary”, but cannot for the life of me remember anything about them). Those two were pretty good, but I always found it strange how well-received Boyle’s films, or those two in particular, are among audiences and critics alike, while I enjoyed both (a lot), I would not put them on the shelf with Those That Will Last.
So I was watching this Science Fiction movie but that slightly over-rated director, and oddly, the parts where I did not follow him was when it got more energetic and kinetic, meaning the last act, where all boredom and self-reflection is being substituted for some form of Alien-like stand-off, only without Alien. Fair enough to introduce a dramatci highlight , but when it follows more than an hour of showing that drama can evolve without diablo ex machina (sorry…), why not leave it that way and go with what you have and what is organically part of the film. A slight letdown at the end, a slide into more conventional territory than was necessary.
Roger Ebert
New York Times Review