In 2050, the spaceship Icarus is sent to detonate a huge bomb into the sun with hopes of re-igniting the dying star. However, for unknown reasons, the crew failed in their mission, and so, several years later, the Icarus II is launched. This attempt seems to be on the path to a successful completion -- that is, until they discover the wreck of the original Icarus and the true reason their mission never came to a successful conclusion.

From Trainspotting to Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle is a director known for visually rich films, and Sunshine is no exception. Taking elements from classic science fiction pictures such as 2001, Solaris, and Alien while skillfully employing cutting-edge CGI effects, Sunshine is a sumptuous movie to look at during its' entire running time, especially taking into account that, at $40 million, the film was made for a fraction of the cost of your average big-budget epic.

And for about 90 of Sunshine's 107 minutes, it's an extremely compelling picture that will keep you thinking. Ultra-deep sci-fi nerds will probably have aneurysms due to the liberties taken with basic laws of physics, and even dullards such as this reviewer will take some task with simple facts in the story, like why is there only one person on the ship trained to detonate the bomb? But if you can put that nit-picky portion of your brain aside, most of Sunshine is a great ride, bringing forth a tumbler of emotions that most sci-fi films would kill to be able to bring towards their audience.

Unfortunately, things fall apart during the finale, which emphasizes slasher-esque antics. The setup to who the killer is even more noodle-scratching than the reason why some of the crew can apparently take a space walk the deep space equivalent of a yardstick from the heart of the sun without instantly turning into charcoal, and having the tensions built up blown out the airlock in the favor of cheap gore thrills was disappointing. Despite the weak finish that may leave a bad taste in the viewer's mouth, Sunshine is still a good science fiction picture that's worth checking out if you're a fan of the genre, or want to see Michelle Yeoh in one of her better non-action roles.

RATING: 6