What's it about? Danny Boyle directs a script from Alex "Ex Machina" Garland centering around a mission to the sun. Sunshine stars Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans and Rose Byrne as members of the doomed crew, sent to reignite the sun with a huge bomb in order to prevent a solar winter on Earth. How does it end? In a huge tonal shift, Sunshine becomes more akin to a slasher movie as it draws to a close. The insane Captain Pinbacker (Mark Strong) of a previous expedition kills off the crew as he attempts to sabotage the mission, but ultimately fails as Capa (Murphy) ignites the payload manually. Why was it controversial? The sudden switch from the more thoughtful approach to science fiction (Boyle cited inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris) to psychopathic killer on the loose horror felt like a missed opportunity to stick with the broader, more interesting themes. It's been argued by some that Pinbacker is symbolic of man's lack of faith and self-destructive nature; a counter-argument is that Sunshine unfortunately turns into little more than an unofficial remake of Event Horizon.
