In our second ‘Cult of Cinema’ Danny Boyle film this season (we also screen ‘Trainspotting’), a team of international astronauts is sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun in 2057.
In the not-too-distant future, Earth's dying sun spells the end for humanity. In a last-ditch effort to save the planet, a crew of eight men and women ventures into space with a device that could revive the star. As the Icarus II races toward its fiery destination, an accident, a grave mistake and a distress beacon from a long-lost spaceship throw the desperate mission into a tailspin. In the face of this, Captain Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada) keeps his cool, while the streamlined crew - including Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh and Chris Evans - more or less keeps it together. With fluid orchestration of the brisk editing, prowling camerawork and unnerving sound design, this is a remarkable film for how it creates life on a space vehicle and the cosmos around it… and it's worth noting that like ‘2001’, the ‘Star Wars’ films and the ‘Alien’ series, it was made in Britain.
UK 2007 Danny Boyle 107m
