The Flaw: Lacking The Courage Of Its Convictions Few films have managed to obliterate such a wonderful thought-provoking promise in one awful final reel as completely and utterly as Sunshine. Written by Alex Garland and directed by Danny Boyle, Sunshine's narrative centres around the crew of the spaceship Icarus II and their mission to re-ignite our dying sun with an atomic payload, "equal in mass to Manhattan Island." The voyage begins as routinely as all cinematic space journeys, but the mission soon takes a turn for the worse when the crew pick up the haunting space echo of Icarus I's distress beacon the first ship to attempt to kick start the fading star. The film is undeniably beautiful, capturing the wonder of space travel and the awe-inspiring nature of our solar systems' life-giver in breathtaking glory. The look and feel of the film is reminiscent of Kubrick's 2001 whereas the narrative has more in common with Tarkovsky's Solaris and it is here that the film really excels. As the ship journeys closer to the sun the mission's psychologist Searle (Cliff Curtis), becomes increasingly obsessed with staring into the stars ferocious core, which sparks concern amongst his fellow crew members. Soon Capa (Cillian Murphy) becomes equally fixated with the gigantic ball of flame and the existential questions this poses are up there with the bravest tackled by the films of the 'grown-up' sci-fi genre. What do we see when we look into the sun? Can humans handle looking into the face of God? Did their proximity to this burning colossus - that predates religion and myth - tear the crew of the Icarus I apart mentally, physically and spiritually? Unfortunately, the film soon veers off course as the crew decide to investigate the floating hull of Icarus I. Before long Mark Strong's Captain Pinbacker is rampaging around the ship like some naked, burnt Jason Voorhees, offing crew members left right and centre as the film descends into the realms of cheap horror. If only Garland and Boyle had had the courage of their convictions to see the psychologically thrilling ideas of the first two acts through to the closing credits, film fans may have held Sunshine up as the genre's shining light instead of the life-less black hole it became. Do you agree? Which other films just missed out on awesomeness by a hair's bredth? Share your picks below in the comments thread.
