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Sunshine is a mixed bag of a movie. I loved parts of it but I also hated parts of it. It’s this year’s “The Fountain.” Visually it’s a beguiling work of art but it’s ultimately undone by its incomprehensive storytelling; not to the same degree as “The Fountain” (a movie that made almost no sense) but enough to end up as a disappointment.

Sunshine really starts out strong and as a contender as one of the year’s best films. Director Danny Boyle, a master visionary in this genre, and writer Alex Garland create a genuinely generic atmosphere. The year is 2057. The sun is dying out and Earth is suffering from a solar winter. The entire film, until the very end, takes place on the ship Icarus II. Icarus I is assumed to have failed. The crew of Icarus II has one mission, reignite the sun with a massive bomb that has a mass equivalent to that of Manhattan Island.

The cast is headlined by Boyle regular Cillian Murphy (“28 Days Later”) who plays Robert Kappa. Kappa designed the bomb and is the only one who knows how it works. Hence his life is of higher priority. The supporting cast is internationally comprised of Hiroyuki Sanada (“The Last Samurai”) as the ship’s captain, Searle, and his crew: Rose Byrne (“28 Weeks Later) as Cassie, Michelle Yeoh (“Tomorrow Never Dies”) as Corazon, Chris Evans (“Fantastic Four”) as Mace, and Benedict Wong (“A Cock and Bull Story”) as Trey. They’re all very good but no one particularly stands out.

The first act of “Sunshine” is enthralling, filled with spectacular special effects that are right up there with the best of the year. Boyle once again manages to give his film a fascinating look. Forty-five minutes down the road and its still smooth sailing. The special effects stand out but don’t stand alone. There is relatively reasonable character development and well written plot points. These plot points are similar to that of “Apollo 13” with that whatever can go wrong does approach. So far it’s everything “The Fountain” is not. Unfortunately it doesn’t last long after that.

While passing by Mercury, a signal from Icarus I is picked up. The crew now decides to alter their course with the hopes of getting the bomb attached to Icarus I so they can double their chances of success. From that point, circumstances go horribly awry, much like the film.

It’s in the third act where the movie collapses onto itself. It’s not the worst of final acts but it’s certainly not the best. I left the theater wondering what might have been. It could have been much, much better. “Sunshine” turns into a little bit of a slasher flick, unnecessarily in my opinion, just for the sake of killing off a couple of extra crew members to the point where it seems as if all hope is lost. The last half hour of “Sunshine” is a bit of a mess. It’s confusing and there’s much more violence when there doesn’t need to be. The last half hour is also poorly edited, way off course from it’s first two acts. It’s roughly shot and very fast paced, in a style much similar to that of “28 Weeks Later,” which may have worked in that film, but it’s just annoying in this movie.

“Sunshine” lacks one attribute Boyle usually has perfectly covered and that is attention to detail. It’s not lacking much but enough to see why his other films like “28 Days Later” are better. With that movie we got a cut and dry look and feeling for an Apocalyptic movie. Here Boyle does a good job of presenting the technology used in 2057, however, everything takes place in space and I would like to know better what the effects of a dying sun having on Earth are. We get one small scene at the end but it’s not enough.

The film’s biggest strength is in it’s special effects and they are awesome from beginning to end. “Sunshine” is worth seeing once for that alone. It’s delicious eye candy, but eye candy nonetheless. The characters are solid and the first two-thirds of the script are as well. It’s towards the end where “Sunshine” falls apart. It’s a good effort, but Boyle and Co. shoot for the stars and ultimately come up short. This one was close, but no cigar.