Hollywood’s biggest stars star in this lesser-known sci-fi thriller

What would you do if the sun died? Bringing him back to life by detonating a star bomb on his roof, of course. That’s what a crew of astronauts try to do in Sunshine, a 2007 sci-fi thriller. Streaming now on Prime Video and Apple TV.

Set in the year 2057, Sunshine follows the eight-person crew of the spaceship Icarus II, the last hope of saving life on Earth. These scientists are not stereotypically cold and calculating. They are intelligent human beings, but they are still subject to their emotions.

It is also played by some big name actors. Cillian Murphy plays physicist Robert Capa (16 years before he played another physicist named Robert in Oppenheimer’s film). Marvel’s Captain America’s Chris Evans plays hot-headed engineer Mace. Malaysian star and Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh is the biologist on the ship Corazon.

When Icarus II discovered the existence of the ship Icarus I – which had tried to reboot the sun seven years earlier and failed – the crew decided to change course. They try to salvage the star bomb from the old ship in case their bomb fails. But Icarus 2’s navigator, Tree (Benedict Wong), makes a miscalculation that leads to a risky maintenance maneuver.

Donning oversized, shiny gold space suits, Kappa and Captain Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada) venture off the ship to make repairs, and things quickly turn bleak. Icarus 2’s oxygen reserves have been damaged, and Corazon estimates that only half of the crew will have enough air to survive. And they have an even bigger problem when they finally reach Icarus I.

Quiet terror haunts the second half of Sunshine. But there are also visually stunning shots, such as one in which the sun reflects off the ship’s sun shield. Looking at the ice-covered Earth, the sun appears to be just a dim point of light, but as Icarus 2 approaches the dying star, the crew experiences its full intensity.

The performances of the cast make Sunshine more than just another sci-fi film. Murphy brings gravitas to the role of Capa, the astronaut responsible for operating the star bomb. He is often at odds with Evans’ character Mace, and both are not above settling their differences with their fists. Pilot Cassie (Rose Byrne) acts as a balancing act, while second-in-command Harvey (Troy Garrity) struggles to accept the possibility of death. The only character who seems without fear is psychologist Searle (Cliff Curtis), who risks damaging his retinas when he obsessively watches the sun.

While the premise of the sun dying in the near future may be pure fantasy, Sunshine director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland teamed up with a physics professor to give the film scientific weight. Boyle also did the casting We live together While preparing for their roles. The resulting world has depth, and the crew has a slightly dysfunctional chemistry that feels real.

It is amazing to see all these talents coming together in one film, years before the most famous roles of some of these stars. Combined with a captivating and horrific plot, sunrise It stands out as one of the best science fiction films of the 2000s.