Our look at the best Danny Boyle movies is almost at an end but the penultimate film to go under the spotlight is Sunshine.
Sunshine was released back in 2007 and it one of the Boyle movies that tends to go under the radar - surprising because it really is a terrific movie.
Boyle turned his hand to the action/sci-fi genre as the film followed a group of astronauts who are on a mission to re-ignite the dying sun - but the journey doesn’t go to plan.
Alex Garland penned the script while Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne and Chris Evans were just some of the names on this great cast list.
Sunshine is a nail biting movie from start to finish and there is an air of unease that hangs over this picture from the very start.
Couple that with the menace that Boyle gives to the sun - you don’t expect to see brightness depicted in such a way - and you have an incredibly atmospheric movie.
I have always loved Danny Boyle movies and while Sunshine is a movie on a very large scale there is still something very intimate about it as the director focuses on the characters, the relationships between them and the toll this mankind-saving journey is having upon them.
There is also a very claustrophobic feel to the film as the crew are trapped within the confines of the space ship and this does the movie that extra tension - there really is no where for them to run.
Some of the sci-fi movies that we have seen in recent years have been nothing more than popcorn entertainment but Sunshine is a movie that really does buck that trend.
This is an intelligent movie that is bone chilling as well as fascinating and it is a movie that really will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
Cillian Murphy is also gives a great central performance as Capa, the man responsible for the delivery of the payload. And it is a decision that he makes that puts the crew on a course for danger.
He is a man plagued by doubt about his ability to succeed in the mission that he has been tasked with before being forced to fight to survive in a bit to complete the task.
There are also great performances from Rose Byrne and Chris Evans - Evans in particular has a great final scene.
As if a great script, story and cast list is not enough Sunshine is a movie that also look absolutely terrific - some of the space/sun shots really are incredibly beautiful.
Sunshine is a movie that did not do as well at the box office that it deserved to do but fans of Danny Boyle’s work really should take a look at this film as it is a great watch - it is also one of my favourite Boyle movies.
The now Oscar winning director just has a real knack of creating tension and fear and perhaps this is a genre of film that he should really consider returning to.
Trance is out now.
Tagged in Cillian Murphy Danny Boyle Sunshine