5/5 welcome to the Icarus II
  by A. Reinwand
9.8 THE FILM ITSELF
10 VISUALS
10 SOUND
8.5 PACKAGING
8.2 EXTRAS

Welcome to the Icarus II.

Seven years ago Icarus I was supposed to send a bomb to the heart of our nearest star, the sun, to save mankind. For whatever reason, the mission failed. Not that it's really surprising since it's an extremely difficult mission to accomplish, so Icarus II was sent to ultimately try again. Kind of feels like leading sheep to the slaughter right? Well, don't worry, the crew knows what their fate likely is as well.

Set only a mere 50 years into the future, this sci-fi "end of the world" type film by Danny Boyle packs a whole new punch compared to his other apocalyptic frightfest "28 Days Later" follows the crew of Icarus II as it delivers its bomb to the sun. Leading the way is Cappa, played brilliantly by Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Batman Begins, Red Eye) as he struggles with one decision after the next.

The film plays out in standard sci-fi terms. It builds up slowly with character development and really sinks its teeth into you. There are alot of scenes that play homage to "Alien" and just have a classic old-school sci-fi feel, which is great. The most surprising part is how character driven the film is. This may be a sci-fi film, but there's very little in terms of bizarre, out of this world questionable moments. However, with that said, the ending (which I won't give anything away to) will tear the audience into two different camps. I personally enjoyed the ending, although at first I was worried just how far the movie was going to shift directions from where it began, it doesn't stray too far off course, but I know some fans will leave angry with the ending.

But if you want a film that excels with great character development, great acting and numerous tension building moments then invest some time in Sunshine.

10 VISUALS
maybe I'm going a little overboard because this was the first blu-ray I ever bought, owned and watched, but I was stunned at how amazing this picture looks. While inside the ship there are alot of dark colors, once you see Mercury and the sun itself, it almost hurts your eyes how bright and powerful the film is. But even in the darkest of moments (no pun) you can see sweat on the characters, wrinkles in their clothing and parts in their hair. Everything is crisp, clean and extremely detailed. This is truly 1080p.

10 SOUND
A wonderfully eerie score mixed with great "space" noises really make this a 10 for sound. With a good surround sound system, you'll really be able to fully embrace what Sunshine has to offer.

8.5 PACKAGING
The cover and main menus are simple enough, but they do a great job of setting the feel for the film. There's no doubt from the cover that this is a sci-fi film.

8.2 EXTRAS
There are two commentary tracks with Sunshine, and both are great. The first is with Director Danny Boyle who you really sense that he enjoys his films. He talks in great detail about the making of the film, back stories, CGI effects, and costume design. Even though it's just Boyle on the commentary, it's never boring.

The other commentary is with Dr. Brian Cox of Manchester Univeristy. He pretty much talks about how right or wrong the film is in terms of the science of it. I was amazed to learn how realistic the film is and how much work went into making sure that Sunshine wasn't completely over the top.

Next is "Deleted Scenes", which there are only a few minutes of scenes and none are really drastically different from what was in the final product.

23 Web Production Diaries are next. And yes, you would think, "wow, 23! That's great!" but alot of these are kind of boring. Each one is between 1 to 3 minutes and they don't really go into alot of detail.

The most confusing special feature is the "2 Short Films" that are each 7 minutes. They have nothing to do with the film itself and as Boyle says in an intro, they're hear to showcase people's 'skills'. The problem is, is that they are freaking 7 minutes long and are absolutely terrible. One is literally 7 minutes of watch mole hills on a sidewalk. Wow. Fantastic. Easily the worst special feature I've seen in a long time.

The last special feature is a series of scenes that have behind the scenes footage for them. This is called "A Brilliant Vision: Enhanced Viewing Mode w/ Filmmakers of Sunshine" which has a few minutes of info about certain aspects of the film such as the Icarus II kitchen and the space suit.

IN CLOSING
I love sci-fi films, but having a sci-fi film become a favorite film in general is hard to do. Well, Sunshine succeeded when I never expected it to. I figured it would be good, but I didn't think it would be Boyle's best work yet. Great characters, great drama and fantastic visuals make this a real treat. The commentaries are also great and are really the only massively great special features here. There are more features, but not alot of those are worthwhile, and the 2 short films are horrific, but even they can't bring down this stellar set.

9.8/10 "INCREDIBLE"

3/5 Just watch the first 3/4's.
  by The Bij (Brooklyn, New York USA)
This review is strictly for the uncut, cable-tv version. I do not have any of the DVDs or Blu-Ray.

Sunshine is a pretty good movie up until the last thirty minutes. Then, it becomes quite predictable, silly and kind of unrealistic (even in a sci-fi way), which is too bad, because if they had just kept tempo Sunshine could have ranked as a cult classic right up there with Pitch Black.. One aspect that doesn't disappoint is the soundtrack. Very topnotch and appropriate. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to exist outside of the film.

4/5 Spectacular preformance with an "iffy" end
  by Patrick C. Pleter
I'm not one to tarnish a great cinematic work by the ending alone; yes, it is sad, but that isn't my issue. Rather, Sunshine lost me (like most) with the introduction of the "crazed, subhuman serial killer in space", and the subsequent attempt to turn into a horror flick. It takes you away a bit, but it doesn't overshadow the fact that the rest of the movie -- the good 3/4ths in the beginning -- is very thrilling and wonderfully immersive.

I did, however, have a few queries with the plot:
- Why is the sun "dying" what seems a thousand, if not a few hundreds of years before its 5-or-so billion year deadline?
- Has some tragedy such as a nuclear winter befallen Earth, instead?
- If it truly DOES take place billions of years from now, why do people still look like... well, people? And why is our technology virtually unchanged?

The movie doesn't clear a lot of that up whatsoever. Despite being picky with it, though, it made me cry with every viewing and it is a beautiful, interesting little glimpse into yet another, I think, sci-fi hit.

5/5 ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES IN BD
  by Oscarin (Mexico)
Movie itself: 5 stars
Picture quality: 5 stars
Audio quality: 5 stars (The mix is amazing)
Extras: 4.0 stars

1/5 Zero Plot
  by G. Purvis (Eatonton, GA USA)
Look, I am a sci-fi guy, from Star Trek, BSG, to Sagan, etc. I was an easy target. But this "movie" was such a disaster in my opinion. Who cares about the legitimacy of the science? It has no nucleus, no progressive development, no plot. It is a meandering series of short vignette's about smoke-screen characters who don't matter. It goes from boring, to senseless horror film, to total golden bright chaos. I can't believe how stupid I thought this movie was. And these good reviews? This movie is truly lost on me...and vice versa.