Sunshine
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: July 20, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
A bare outline of the plot reads like a space-adventure thriller with end-of-the-world stakes and a hint of celestial spirituality, and the haunted spaceship twist in the third act is pure B-movie madness. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Sunshine is near-classic modern science fiction, hobbled only by a chaotic final reel and some casting missteps in the white-male department. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
If their movie doesn't float your boat as a work of science-fiction, action, philosophy, heliocentrism, or staggering visual spectacle (although, it really should), then it certainly succeeds as a parable for cinematic ambition. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Another thinking-person's thriller from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, also co-pilots on "28 Days Later." Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
A first-rate, seemingly sweat-free entertainer, Mr. Boyle always sells the goods smoothly, along with the chills, the laughs and, somewhat less often, the tears. He’s wickedly good at making you jump and squirm in your seat, which he does often in Sunshine, but he tends to avoid tapping into deep wells of emotion. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Sunshine is its own creature, taking inspiration from classic science fiction films but insisting on a gritty reality that much improves on past space adventures. Read full review
80
SlateDana Stevens
In moments--the early moments--Sunshine can feel like a new genre classic, albeit one heavily in debt to its predecessors. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Beam yourselves aboard Sunshine, set 50 years in the future. The voyage works, beautifully. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Hard-core science fiction fans will likely greet Sunshine with a smile. Others may find this to be an odd motion picture, but there's enough going on that even those who are expecting something flashier should still be engaged. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Science-fiction fans will like it, and also brainiacs, and those who sometimes look at the sky and think, man, there's a lot going on up there, and we can't even define precisely what a soliton is. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
As a pure cinematic experience, it's exhilaratingly, brutally beautiful. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
The fact that Boyle and Garland have here created something close to an actual trip rather than the mere spectacle that most screen sci-fi contents itself with being nowadays is enough to recommend Sunshine. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
What this spectacular-looking sci-fi thriller lacks in originality it makes up for in pure beauty: It just might be the most visually audacious and startlingly beautiful space opera since the original "Solaris." Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Despite the efforts of the cast (Byrne and Murphy are particularly good), you rarely feel a thing for any of them, but I don't think you're really supposed to, anyway. The characters in Sunshine tackle thorny ethical questions and debate the sanctity of life on their way to the sun, but the movie is really about the voyage, not the voyagers. Enjoy the sights. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
This sci-fi thriller -- which is alternately nail-biting, gorgeous and a little silly -- spends most of its time throwing mechanical and human errors at the most important space mission ever. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
They’ve taken "2001" and Tarkovsky’s "Solaris" and "Silent Running," mixed in stuff from save-the-earth pictures like "The Core" and "Deep Impact," and thrown in a cheesy climax out of "Alien." Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The most indelible moment I took away from Sunshine, in which a tiny figure in a golden space suit floats away from the ship into the gravitational pull of the sun, is one of ecstatic, appalling loneliness. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
For though it can't maintain its momentum all the way to the end, Sunshine until it stumbles is gratifyingly far from the usual space-opera stuff. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Sunshine does for sci-fi what "28 Days Later" . . . did for the zombie movie -- its tale about a manned space mission to the sun preys on our growing fear of obliteration as we confront global warming. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Too much of Sunshine is like a cross between a middling "Alien" movie and "Solaris" (the woozy Steven Soderbergh version). Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
As the film ultimately deviates from its course, the entire undertaking suffers. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The whole thing burns out well before the director reaches his ­final destination. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle Smith
So what starts out as fascinating sci-fi becomes just fi, and winds up pulp fi. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
That last wrong turn completely undoes a picture that had been steering a very impressive course. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Sunshine can be seen as a story about science and religion, about the rational mind and the mad. But at a certain point, like a dying star about to pop into eternal nothingness, the movie can't be seen as anything - it just implodes. Read full review
60
VarietyDerek Elley
Like a collapsing star, Sunshine initially burns brightly but finally implodes into a dramatic black hole. Read full review
60
Village VoiceNathan Lee
Ideas scintillate over the surface of Sunshine without ever quite igniting, but at least the movie sparkles. What it doesn't do is cohere. Action flick, sci-fi thriller, metaphysical adventure, incoherent allegory, ethical hypothesis, and horror film all at once, this mad multitasker has the agenda of a dozen movies. Problem is, we know which ones. Read full review
60
Film ThreatDon R. Lewis
Danny Boyle still creates an impressive world, visually rich and yet cold and claustrophobic. Read full review
58
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
It's one big miss. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoanne Kaufman
The characters are so sketchily drawn that it's hard to keep them straight, let alone get worked up about their survival. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
One of those unapologetically cerebral space-exploration sci-fi movies that's both boring and compelling at once. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The film is nonsense, and what counts is whether viewers will feel able to lay aside their logical complaints and bask in what remains: a trip in search of a tan. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Problems arise in the film’s third act, however, with a profoundly implausible plot turn that sends the movie skidding into bogeyman horror. It cheapens the sentiment, and the film doesn’t recover. Read full review
0
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Directed by Danny Boyle, it lacks even a single moment of charm or interest. Read full review
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