SUNSHINE
0
Posted
October 2, 2007 in
Film
Danny Boyle’s latest heart-stopper takes us on a quest at once incredibly epic and impossibly lonely. The eight-person international crew of the Icarus II must restart the sun to save life on earth. Onboard their ship is a nuclear reactor the size of Manhattan, a greenhouse, and suffocating tension. Boyle’s (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) specialty is introverted thrillers with a suckerpunch hook; here, the pressure comes from the decimating heat—if the Icarus’ reflective shield cracks, the heroes are ash. As pilot Cassie (Rose Byrne), engineer Mace (Chris Evans), botanist Corazon (Michelle Yeoh) and physicist Cillian Murphy (whose alien pretty features belong in outer space) scramble to rescue their mission, the flick’s bleached-out, dizzying cinematography burns the retinas while the screeching sound raises every armhair. Except for some tacked-on silliness with a hallucinatory Russian captain, it’s perfectly executed and miserably effective—the kind of grim poetry you can’t forget, but would prefer not watching twice. (Amy Nicholson)
Danny Boyle’s latest heart-stopper takes us on a quest at once incredibly epic and impossibly lonely. The eight-person international crew of the Icarus II must restart the sun to save life on earth. Onboard their ship is a nuclear reactor the size of Manhattan, a greenhouse, and suffocating tension. Boyle’s (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) specialty is introverted thrillers with a suckerpunch hook; here, the pressure comes from the decimating heat—if the Icarus’ reflective shield cracks, the heroes are ash. As pilot Cassie (Rose Byrne), engineer Mace (Chris Evans), botanist Corazon (Michelle Yeoh) and physicist Cillian Murphy (whose alien pretty features belong in outer space) scramble to rescue their mission, the flick’s bleached-out, dizzying cinematography burns the retinas while the screeching sound raises every armhair. Except for some tacked-on silliness with a hallucinatory Russian captain, it’s perfectly executed and miserably effective—the kind of grim poetry you can’t forget, but would prefer not watching twice. (Amy Nicholson)
