Cillian Murphy has made waves as the ultra evil doctor Jonathan Crane a.k.a. "Scarecrow" in the popular Batman Begins prequel, and is rumored to possibly be reprising that rolein the upcoming sequel The Dark Knight. Before that, he turned out a villainous performance alongside Rachel McAdams in the 2005 action thriller Red Eye. Chris Evans is also riding high in the Hollywood scene with his role as Johnny Storm in both The Fantastic 4 and its sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer. He also has recently appeared next to Scarlett Johansson in The Nanny Diaries. My point is that with all the success these two actors have enjoyed, marketing them in a film together should have been a breeze. Still, I am left wondering why, outside of the cast and crew, 12 people worldwide have heard of this film. My apologies for that rant, but I am guessing that most readers can see where I am coming from with it. Assuming anyone is still reading, I suppose now I should dive deeply into the meat and bones of this review.

       The premise of Sunshine is quite simple on the surface. It is set 50 years in the future and the sun is in danger of burning out. Those dwelling on earth have gotten quite used to the fact that they exist, and so it is decided that something must be done before the sun completely burns itself out and earth is turned into an uninhabitable frozen wasteland. Salvation comes in the form of a team of scientists aboard the aptly named spacecraft "Icharus II." The plan is an easy enough one to wrap your mind around as long as you make sure and stay away from attempting to understand the logistics behind it all. The team aboard Icharus II is headed towards the sun to deliver a payload in the form of a HUGE mega bomb meant to re-ignite the sun. Along the way they run into numerous complications, including a random distress signal from the Icharus I that went missing 7 years earlier.

       Some strong performances by the film’s stars abound in this sub-par sci-fi flick, and the cinematography is truly something to behold. The shots of the sun and some of its surrounding planets are really amazing to look at. I am not a huge fan of the genre itself, and possibly that played into the fact that I did not love the premise as much as others might have. T

       One of this film’s misgivings is that it relies too strongly on the star power of Evans and Murphy, so much so that we as viewers really are not at all compelled  to take a vested interest in most of the other characters. Some fleeting scenes of emotion portrayed by some of the minor characters are so few and far between that it seems that as soon as those scenes end, we move on and nearly forget they occurred. Weak sub plots including a hinted at romantic connection that never goes anywhere and is hardly (if at all) mentioned after its initial introduction only serve to further complicate this film. A turn in the film’s 3rd act had me wondering what the hell this movie was trying to do. Seemingly out of nowhere we are simultaneously introduced to a new character, a religious aspect, and scenes somewhat reminiscent of a slasher film.

       Nonetheless, all in all, this movie is mediocre. The premise is fairly believable and the two leads shine. Weak spots are apparent, but not damning to the overall success of the actual film itself.  The huge error in my humblest of opinions comes near the end. If you plan to drum up the old science versus religion issue and actually make it stick inside the minds of your viewers and possibly even spark some intelligent debate, do not use the last twenty minutes of a two hour production to introduce and weakly attempt to elaborate on it. I would recommend this film based solely on the cinematography. The visuals contained within the walls of this movie are truly spectacular to say the least. The film itself is nothing to write home about, but if you are a fan of either Cillian Murphy or Chris Evans, then you will be pleased.