Post apocalyptic films are all the rage in this day and age and I’m loving it. Man knows just as much as the planet that our time is finite. Earth is not immortal and the sun will eventually burn out, and our obsession with the end of mankind is almost unlimited. For someone who loves tales of the end of humanity, “Sunshine” was almost like a wet dream for me. Danny Boyle accomplished his task of the end of mankind by its own rage with “28 Days Later,” and his second foray into the end was fascinating to me. And with a strong cast like Cillian Murphy and Rose Byne, this film further drew my interest from the moment it was announced. “Sunshine” is clearly Boyle’s answer to “2001: A Space Odyssey” with the grit and sheer biting tension of “Fail Safe” thrown in for good measure.

It also helps that we’re given a wonderful cast of seasoned actors like Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, and Cliff Curtis, just to name a few. And hey, Boyle also squeezes a great performance from Chris Evans, how about that? As with Boyle’s usual films, “Sunshine” sports one hell of a taut score that not only keeps the story at a hefty pace, but also increases the suspense and mounting tension ten fold, matched with Boyle’s talent for sheer grit, claustrophobic close ups that always makes “Sunshine” an uncomfortable science fiction tale. Regardless of where the individuals of the crew are in Icarus-2, we always feel cornered and boxed up, and with death lurking right outside their hull, it’s only a matter of time before the walls come crumbling down all around us with mankind’s last fight a clear losing battle from the get go. And soon the fight for survival on Earth becomes a fight for survival on ship.

Boyle’s adaptable visuals are utterly fantastic with special effects that never act as a central plot motivation, only as secondary plot devices intended to further demonstrate the sun’s slowly dying source of energy. Boyle, just like past films, probes the psyches of his characters aboard this gradually dying vessel by once again entering their subconscious, and providing us with psychological summaries in the form of their sheer obsession with the sun, their constant use of the ships video program allowing them to revisit their happiest memories, and the inevitable bouts of cabin fever and paranoia that strikes as the mission becomes much more dire with every moment. A lot like “2001,” Boyle and Garland will manage to strike up surefire arguments and debates among viewers who will form their own interpretations based upon their beliefs. This beautiful vision some of the survivors have claimed to see will leave atheists and theists talking long after the movie has ended, and Boyle doesn’t seem intent on filling us in. I’m okay with the mystery, that’s what the best science fiction tales are made of.

Danny Boyle’s tale of the last gasp of mankind is grueling, with Boyle and Garland aspiring to create their own science fiction classic and coming damn close. I was emotionally exhausted by the time this ended; “Sunshine” is an underrated and utterly excellent installment from Boyle who continues topping himself.

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