DVD Watch: Sunshine

Sunshine is probably one of the best sci fi movies since Aliens, but sadly that's as much a reflection on movies like Mission to Mars and Red Planet than it is a statement that Boyle has repeated his success with 28 Days Later.

First the good - Sunshine is a simply gorgeous movie. I really want to see it again in high def ... and that is the first movie I've really made that statement about. From the set design to the carefully exploited special effects, Sunshine drapes itself in precisely the scenery it needs for the scene it has on hand. Boyle also pulls the strengths from some top notch actors, including one of my all time faves - Michelle Yeoh.

Now I'm not going to call the story bad - it's leagues above most of what washes ashore in the sci fi genre these days and a good lightyear ahead of anything Lucas has put to print in some decades. It takes the science and the fiction quite seriously, builds an interesting set of characters and puts them into some fairly interesting conflict.

The real problem is that Sunshine begins to outpace itself by the third act. The plot begins to skip a few beats and none of this is helped by the addition of more and more artistic edits and cinematography as the movie reaches its conclusion. There aren't necessarily plot gaps, but there are a few moments when you wonder just how the Earth assembled this particular crew to save the planet.

So while Sunshine is a beautiful trip, it lacks a little bit at the destination. Still, it marks a high water point for science fiction in general and certainly worth the rental.