Don't rush to bask in 'Sunshine'

The Baltimore Sun

A year ago, Fox Searchlight's celebrated July-August release was Little Miss Sunshine, a blast of humanity powered by the spluttering engine of a battered old VW van. Now the company is rolling out Sunshine, and unlike its predecessor, it's one big miss. Little Miss Sunshine made you feel part of a group quest as you traveled the distance between New Mexico and Southern California with a family of misfits; Sunshine freezes you out as you journey with a handful of scientists and astronauts from Earth to the sun.

Set a half-century from now, Danny Boyle's spectacle about a mission to reignite our ailing star and save the planet is one of those high-style, highbrow science-fiction experiments that draws today's top directors the way Westerns did once upon a time. Steven Soderbergh had his emotionally constipated Solaris, and now Boyle has this long night's journey into day.

Sunshine (Fox Searchlight) Cliff Curtis, Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Troy Garity. Directed by Danny Boyle. Rated R. Time 107 minutes.

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