While Sunshine remained in theaters for about as long as the length of a solar eclipse, the recent DVD release undoubtedly deserves a look.

Director Danny Boyle certainly knows how to ratchet up the intensity and keep the heart pounding. Touches of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien wrapped in the dark intensity of Boyle’s earlier 28 Days Later (writer Alex Gardner and actor Cillian Murphy worked on both films) keep you on the edge of your seat in this sci-fi thriller.

This film will definitely be getting repeated looks from me. There’s plenty more on the DVD to check out, including separate commentaries from Boyle and Dr. Brian Cox, an experimental physicist and Royal Society University Research Fellow, who acted as science advisor on the film. (As an aside, Dr. Cox seems quite intriguing on his own right. He’s like the new Carl Sagan, if Carl Sagan had also been a rockstar.)

Also, the Sunshine website is worth a look. There’s lots of stuff to explore there, including behind-the-scenes videos, essays, and conceptual drawings. As with experimental physicists, the UK version of the website is much better.