Movie - Sunshine (2007)

 

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Plot

In the year 2057, the Sun is dying and Earth is freezing. Eight international astronauts pilot the Icarus II, a ship fronted with a mirrored stellar bomb designed to reignite the dying star.

As Icarus II passes Mercury it picks up a distress beacon from Icarus I, a prior attempt lost seven years earlier. Reasoning another payload allows another attempt, Physicist Capa convinces Captain Kaneda to change course and intercept Icarus I, despite Mace's objections. Trey calculates and plots the route, but forgets to realign the shields and damages reflective panels; the broken panels could expose and destroy the ship.

Cassie angles the damaged shields into shadow as Kaneda and Capa spacewalk to make repairs. As expected, this incinerates their communications towers, however reflected light burns the oxygen garden and air reserves. The emergency autopilot tilts back to original alignment, and Kaneda orders Capa to retreat. Kaneda repairs the final panel, but is incinerated. Trey blames himself for Kaneda's death and Searle sedates him, assessing him as a suicide risk.

Without enough oxygen to deploy the payload, Icarus II is forced to dock with Icarus I. Capa, Searle, Mace, and Harvey search the vessel, leaving Cassie and Corazon onboard Icarus II with Trey. Despite operational systems and an overgrown oxygen garden, Icarus I's mainframe has been sabotaged, rendering payload delivery impossible. Mace finds a crazed log from Captain Pinbacker: covered in severe burns, Pinbacker gives a fatalist tirade about their mission opposing God. Mace dates it at six and a half years ago, around the scheduled payload delivery. The charred Icarus I crew is found huddled in the observation deck, burned to death by unfiltered sun exposure.

Suddenly, the two ships explosively decouple, destroying Icarus I's outer airlock. Stranded, the four agree to jettison back into Icarus II wearing the only spacesuit and airlock insulation; despite Harvey's protests, Capa is given the suit as the only person who can deploy the payload. With the mainframe destroyed, Searle volunteers to stay behind and open the airlock. During the jump, Harvey misses the airlock and dies from space exposure, while Capa and Mace make it back to Icarus II. Searle returns to the Icarus I observation deck and exposes himself to unfiltered sunlight, incinerating himself.

With five crew members remaining, Corazon calculates that there is only enough oxygen for four people to reach the Sun. The group reluctantly votes to have Mace kill Trey, but discover Trey has already committed suicide. With the remaining crew somewhat relieved that they can succeed, Icarus II warns Capa that there are still five crew members on board and won't have enough oxygen to complete the mission. Capa investigates and discovers Pinbacker, who boarded from Icarus I and caused the explosive airlock decoupling. Pinbacker wounds and pursues Capa, who secures himself in the airlock; Pinbacker locks the exterior, trapping Capa inside. Pinbacker kills Corazon and raises the Icarus II mainframes from their coolant baths, shutting down the ship's computer. Mace triggers mainframe resets from within two baths, but the third mainframe crushes his leg and traps him in the bath. Freezing to death, Mace begs Capa to complete the mission over radio.

Capa wears a space suit and welds through the interior airlock, before opening the exterior airlock; the decompression tears off the interior door. Capa deploys the payload, boarding the bomb as it detaches and Icarus II disintegrates in sunlight. Inside, he finds a wounded Cassie, but is choked by Pinbacker, who claims he spent seven years talking to God, and was told to send humanity to Heaven. Pinbacker holds Capa over an edge, but Cassie leaps and grabs Capa. Capa tears the burned skin from Pinbacker's arm, making them fall. Gravity shifts as Capa and Cassie hurtle towards the Sun, and they land on the wall. Cassie encourages Capa to ignite the bomb, and he rushes to the controls. Capa watches as the bomb ignites at the edge of the Sun and spacetime distorts; the Sun's surface halts before Capa, who reaches out and touches it.

On Earth, Capa's sister and her children build snowmen on the frozen Sydney Harbour. Listening to Capa's last transmission, they watch as the Sun brightens and washes sunlight over the area.