Like 28 Days Later, I didn’t find much here that hadn’t been done earlier. This is a movie that very rigidly follows in the footsteps of Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Moon (yes, I know Moon was made later, but work with me here). However — also like 28 Days Later — this was a movie that took old ideas and masterfully crafted them into something that felt fresh.

I know that movie reviewers like to use the word “stylish” in their write-ups, but I could count on one hand the amount of filmmakers more worthy of that label than Danny Boyle. The way he freeze-frames, what he chooses to speed up or obscure and his skill with pacing could only be described as “masterful” and “stylish.”

So, what about Sunshine in particular? Well, I was repeatedly bugged by how gravity works in this movie. I know that’s a common complaint in space sci-fi, but the problem reaches a whole ‘nother level when the movie takes place in such close proximity to the most powerful gravitational pull in the solar system. Also, there’s a scene that takes place on a craft being launched into said gravitational pull at extremely high velocity. By a character’s own admission earlier in the movie, such high speeds and pressures would cause time and space to blend together, but the characters on the craft seem relatively unhindered. WHAT THE HELL?

That rather glaring nitpick aside, the acting was uniformly solid and the claustrophobic settings were very effective. The beginning is kinda slow, but once the tension takes hold, it doesn’t let go. The bad guy was sorta over-the-top, but Boyle’s inventive cinematography and efficient use of screentime work to turn the villain into a sort of Freddy Krueger/Michael Meyers combination.

All in all, this was a very trippy movie that is very much worth watching, if only to admire the craftsmanship. Just don’t look too close or you’ll see the stitches.