10 Movies One Mistake Away From Being Masterpieces
2. Sunshine
The Almost Great Movie: Even after his big Oscar sweep and Olympic glory, Danny Boyle has kept his integrity. Once a British genre filmmaker, always a British genre filmmaker. And while the Boyle brand brings in bigger audiences thanks to his notoriety, all his films share that same exuberance. Sunshine is one of his more underrated pieces, telling the brilliantly apocalyptic story of a last ditch mission to reignite the sun and save a frozen Earth. In no other film on this list are the brilliant bits so masterful and the mistakes so glaring.
The Big Mistake: The entire third act.
Where Sunshine falters is in its final half hour. Up until then we've been treated to some believable science (Brian Cox was an advisor on the film), a multicultural crew (it's not just Americans saving the day) and some beautiful sequences (the space walk is breathtaking). But once Mark Strong's character, a crazed captain of a previous mission who's survived seven years on sunlight alone, starts killing people, it spirals into typical slasher territory. Stylistically brilliant slasher territory, but it's a jarring change that derails the film all the same.