Sunshine

With 2001-like visual spectacle and Alien-like creepouts, among other obvious borrowings, this Danny Boyle sci-fi extravaganza should have been better than it was. Cillian Murphy leads a crew of eight on a mission to restart the dying sun with a huge thermonuclear payload, but their formulaic dynamics (the 21st century update to the WWII bomber crew) make for a glorified Star Trek episode that seems both truncated and overextended at 100-odd minutes. The plot points pile up and the story falls apart, leaving you with special effects that have lost their specialness. Rose Byrne, however, is a name to remember and a face to watch in the future, the next great Aussie actress. (2007, dvd, n.) *6* (MC-64.)