Sunshine

As part of my philanthropic blogging services, I'd like to share a bit more of what I've been watching, listening to, playing, and reading (someday I will read a book!). And, of course, no post would be complete without my over-analytical comments. Tonight's film:

(Danny Boyle, 2007)

Actually, I don't remember hearing hardly anything about Sunshine as it was coming out, and no one (that I knew) seemed to be paying particular attention to it. If it wasn't for my love of 28 Days Later (same director, same writer, same star, even same composer) it probably would have completely passed me by. But I'm pretty glad I caught this one.

Robert "Jim" Capa (Cillian "Jim" Murphy) and a team of seven other astronauts are responsible for restoring our dying sun after the first team has inexplicably failed and disappeared. They are mankind's last hope (which you know I'm a sucker for), but of course, as with any space thriller, problems continually arise and their mission becomes harder and harder to carry out.

Frankly, there's nothing that thought-provoking here; it was just a fun movie. The effects were excellent, by the way. Still... there's something valuable to me in this movie, and I think it's the same thing I found in 28 Days Later. In Days, the main character Jim isn't anyone special or important, but he really mans up throughout the movie and by the end is taking down everyone he has to in order to protect the two girls entrusted into his care. In Sunshine, the crew has to overcome a lot of strife, misfortune, and even their own accumulating insanity. It was so thrilling to watch how hard Capa drove himself to carry out what he had to do. For me, these movies fit perfectly into John Eldridge's theory of the three desires of every male heart: adventure, battle, and a beauty to rescue. So seeing them played out before me in such a well done film certainly gets me excited.

All in all, you wouldn't be missing out on anything huge if you skipped it, but it's worth watching if you want to be entertained.

4/5 stars

Above: Me as Cillian Murphy as Jim as Robert Capa