Sunshine

Variety by

Well-intentioned but never entirely engaging chronicle.

Film.com by Gemma Files

Sunshine's historical reference-heavy narrative walks a fine line between novelistic tragedy and comically overstated melodrama, falling down on the job more than once.

Dallas Observer by Jean Oppenheimer

That this mess should come from the hand of Istvan Szabo, the brilliant Hungarian director of "Mephisto" and "Colonel Redl," is the real shocker.

Chicago Reader by Lisa Alspector

Many of the plot points seem belabored because they're introduced in the voice-over, then ploddingly dramatized, then analyzed by the family over meals.

San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle

From the outside, Sunshine sounds like the most boring film on Earth. In fact, it's glorious.

USA Today by Mike Clark

This movie doesn't make you think you are watching art. It's closer to a high-end TV movie with lots of familiar faces.

Time by Richard Schickel

Sunshine is a trifle schematic. But it also makes you feel, quite poignantly, the crushing tides of history: heedless, inhuman--and tragic.

Portland Oregonian by Shawn Levy

So filled with riches that it seems a bit unfair to single out Szabo and Fiennes, no matter how outstanding their work.

Washington Post by Stephen Hunter

It's a brilliant, profound movie, but it's almost no fun at all.