The combination of director Danny Boyle, writer Alex Garland and actor Cillian Murphy should have meant that Sunshine was the best film of the year so far. Sadly it's meaningless drivel.<br /><br />There are two kinds of space movie. The first are those with shooting and/or aliens (Star Wars, Serenity, Alien etc). Then there are those in which the focus of the film is on people going mad in space for no well explained reason (Solaris, 2001, Silent Running etc). Sunshine falls into the latter category. If you've knowingly seen a Tarkofsky film then go and see Sunshine - you're bound to be able to find some spurious justification for why it was meaningful.<br /><br />*Spoiler*<br /><br />A group of ethnically diverse astronauts are in the final leg of the second and last mission to chuck a cosmic paint can into the sun in an attempt to "restart" it. <br /><br />Nothing much happens until the crew discovers that the ship from the first mission is still orbiting the sun. The crew then decide that they'd rather be in "Alien" than "Solaris" and go to investigate. Naturally someone is still alive on the original spaceship. This surviving loony has a god-complex, a bad case of sunburn and the ability to blur film. He kills everyone except Cillian Murphy who manages to detonate the bomb and everyone on earth is saved - hooray.<br /><br />Apparently: <br /><br />1) Sentient super computers aren't very good at providing useful information such as "there's an extra person on board" or "shall we make sure the mirrors are adjusted before turning the ship?". <br /><br />2) Vitally irreplaceable sections of space ships often explode and/or catch fire for no reason. Providing backup systems (or even fire extinguishers) is apparently pointless and unnecessary. <br /><br />3) Computers that rely on complex liquid cooling devices to function do not require emergency shut offs. Or spares. <br /><br />4) Gold lame space suits are in. <br /><br />5) All derelict space ships should be investigated in case they contain plot devices. <br /><br />6) If the sun is going out restarting it will be a doddle.<br /><br />*End Spoiler*<br /><br />There are some people who may decide this is THE in thing. Me, I'd rather watch Space Truckers again... and that's saying something. I'd give it some points for the special effects but really, given that none of them serve the story in any useful way, I cannot even justify that. 1/10