Great Movies within Bad Genres: Sunshine

Ahhh Science Fiction. Thrust back into the mainstream thanks to James Cameron. Well, Avatards, in this space we are going to discuss a classic example of the genre, rather than The Last Samurai with blue people instead of skilled martial artists. There are those that hate Sci-Fi, and justifiably so. It is typically nothing but empty films about a bunch of aliens and intergalactic battle. But there are exceptions to the rule that all science fiction has to suck. For every film like this (how did they get Barry Pepper in that?) and this there can be found gems such as this and this. Both movies are exceptional Sci-Fi, but not the deep space, absence of planets kind of setting that comes to mind when I think of Sci-Fi, which is why we are going to discuss Sunshine. That and because what Blue wants, Blue gets (unless, of course, what he wants is success from the Indiana University men's basketball program).

Sunshine (2007)

What makes Sunshine so great? Let's start with the Academy Award winning director, Danny Boyle. If you've never heard of Danny Boyle, you should be ashamed. He has directed Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later, and the widely respected Trainspotting (although there's a little too much of Ewan's little McGregor in it for me....and drugs, too many drugs as well). At least do yourself a favor and watch all the movies mentioned above (excluding Trainspotting, however, you may enjoy it even though I didn't). What's remarkable about Boyle is that he hasn't made two films that are even remotely similar in terms of genre. He's done a hardcore drug movie, a vacation gone wrong movie, a zombie movie, a whatever-genre-Slumdog-is movie, the kids movie, and the save the earth science fiction movie...all of which are great. Those that disagree certainly have their reasons, but for me, Boyle's best flick to date is Sunshine.

Sunshine, set 50 years in the future, follows the Icarus II's crew of 8 young scientists on a journey to reignite the dying sun, and save the planet from global cooling. If you really want to know the science behind the dying sun premise, feel free to attempt to understand this, nerd. I'm not so wrapped up in the validity of the science; I'm more concerned with the effectiveness of the film. To say that the film is great because it defies convention would be a false. After all, the premise is a mission to save the planet, the proverbial shit hits the fan, and people make sacrifices to ensure the success of the mission (Armageddon, much?).

Instead, it's the way the story plays out that makes it so great. There are no scenes on the planet earth until the last few seconds. In fact, after about 7 minutes, the film has zero communication with earth, which brilliantly pumps up the claustrophobia and tension in the movie. The movie only deals with the enormity of the task at hand and to succeed where Icarus I failed. Where most sci-fi relies heavily on special effects, Sunshine does not. That's not to say there are no great visuals, there certainly are. The images of the ship in space, and the scenes that take place in space are striking. But the film doesn't need these visuals to wow you. The film wows you by focusing on the mission, the decisions made, the consequences of those decisions, and the overall eeriness of space. It's the exploration of humanity versus logic and young people being forced to make impossible decisions. It's that the film is more science than fiction that makes it so effective. It doesn't give you a premise so that the film can go into space and blow shit up. It's intelligent and succeeds in the ways necessary to create a classic sci-fi.

Without sacrificing too many plot details, I do acknowledge that the film takes a strange turn when they ultimately reach Icarus I after responding to its distress call. I know that the balance starts to tip briefly towards fiction and away from science. Get over it. The rest of the film is strong enough that it overcomes this brief detour and comes back to deliver more great scenes afterwards (Capa's Jump). There are so many ways that Sunshine could have taken a turn for the worse, and it is in this restraint that it should stand alongside the classics in Sci-Fi, an example of what the genre can produce. The antithesis to this. Go see it, and best of luck to the Butler Bulldogs and (future IU) coach Brad Stevens.