# Sunshine (2007) Review: Awe, Dread and a Dying Star > Sunshine is Danny Boyle's space thriller about a crew carrying a bomb to reignite the Sun, a visually overwhelming film whose final act divides audiences. Canonical: https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/sunshine-2007-review/ Published: 2026-07-23 Last updated: 2026-09-24 Author: Kaiser Khan — Founder & Editor Language: English Review basis: direct-viewing Spoilers: none Rating: 3.5/5 ## Verdict Yes, with reservations. Science fiction fans who value atmosphere and big ideas will find it thrilling, though its tonal lurch in the last act will frustrate some viewers. ## Is Sunshine worth watching? **Yes, for two acts of superb, awe-struck science fiction. Sunshine is one of the most beautiful and intense space films of its era, and its first hour is as gripping as anything Danny Boyle has made.** The images of the Sun are overwhelming, the crew's claustrophobic tensions are expertly handled, and the score is unforgettable. The reservation is the last act, which swerves into a different kind of film and splits opinion to this day. ## What is Sunshine about? Fifty years in the future, the Sun is dying and Earth is freezing. Seven years after a first mission to reignite it vanished without a trace, a second ship, the Icarus II, is carrying a colossal nuclear payload towards the star, with a crew of eight and humanity's last hope aboard. Physicist Capa (Cillian Murphy) is responsible for the bomb, while the rest of the team, including Mace (Chris Evans), Cassie (Rose Byrne), Corazon ([Michelle Yeoh](https://celluloidscore.com/stars/southeast-asia/malaysia/michelle-yeoh/)) and captain Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada), keep the ship alive as it moves deeper into the Sun's glare, and further from home. [Sunshine](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/sunshine-2007/) is directed by Danny Boyle from a screenplay by Alex Garland, reuniting the pair after 28 Days Later. It is a British production in English that runs 108 minutes and was released in April 2007. Cliff Curtis, Troy Garity and Benedict Wong complete the core crew. ## The Sun as a character Boyle's great achievement is making the Sun feel like a presence rather than a destination. Its light fills the frame in overwhelming bursts, burning through filters and flaring across faces, and the film understands that staring into it is both terrifying and seductive. The crew's observation room, where they can look at a fraction of its full brightness, becomes the film's central image: a place of worship as much as a place of work. The visual effects still hold up remarkably well, and the sound design, a constant low hum of machinery and solar roar, keeps the audience inside the ship's fragile shell. John Murphy's score, built with the electronic group Underworld, rises from ambient drones to crushing orchestral surges and has become one of the most borrowed pieces of film music of the century. ## A crew under pressure The first two acts are a model of the space-mission thriller. Garland's script sets up a series of practical problems, each small decision carrying enormous stakes, and the crew's professional disagreements curdle into distrust as the pressure mounts. Boyle stages these scenes with rising tension and a strong sense of physical danger, from spacewalks against a blinding backdrop to the cramped corridors of the ship. The ensemble is excellent. [Cillian Murphy](https://celluloidscore.com/stars/europe/ireland/cillian-murphy/) gives Capa a quiet, intellectual intensity; Chris Evans, cast against his later superhero image, is abrasive and convincing as the engineer who puts the mission above everything; and Michelle Yeoh and Hiroyuki Sanada bring gravity to smaller roles. The film is careful to keep the characters' fears and flaws specific, which makes each crisis land. ## The last act divides the film Without giving anything away, Sunshine changes register in its final stretch. What has been a cerebral, character-driven survival story becomes something closer to horror, with a shift in tone, pace and visual style that some viewers find exhilarating and others find a betrayal of everything before it. The editing becomes more frantic and the images more distorted, which suits the film's themes but makes the climax harder to follow than the lucid build-up. Whichever side you land on, it is a real change, and it is the main reason Sunshine sits just below the classics it clearly admires rather than beside them. ## Who should watch Sunshine? It is ideal for science fiction fans who prefer atmosphere and ideas to action, for admirers of Boyle and Garland, and for anyone who wants a space film that treats the universe with genuine awe. At 108 minutes it is compact and intense. There is peril, some violence and moments of body horror, especially later on, and the claustrophobic mood may unsettle sensitive viewers. Good companions: - [2001: A Space Odyssey](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/2001-a-space-odyssey-1968-review/), the touchstone for any film about a crew, a ship and the mysteries beyond them. - [28 Days Later](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/28-days-later-2002-review/), Boyle and Garland's earlier collaboration, for their grittier take on the end of the world. - [Interstellar](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/interstellar-2014-review/), for another mission to save a dying Earth, with more emphasis on family and science. ## The verdict Sunshine is a flawed but thrilling piece of science fiction, with two acts of near-perfect tension, stunning imagery and one of the great modern film scores. Its final swerve keeps it from greatness for many viewers, but few space films have made the cosmos feel so beautiful and so dangerous. **Rating: 3.5/5** ## Related title - [Sunshine (2007)](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/sunshine-2007/) ## Editorial - [Editorial standards](https://celluloidscore.com/about/editorial-policy/) - [Report a correction](https://celluloidscore.com/about/corrections/)