Frozen recommends: Sunshine (2007)

Boasting a stellar cast consisting of Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Bennedict Wong, Hiroyuki Sanada and Mark Strong, Sunshine is one of the best sci fi films of the 2000s.

A team of international astronauts are sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb in 2057.

Sunshine excels as both an intelligent sci fi drama and tense thriller. Grappling with topics such as religion v science, the importance of symbols and the tendencies of those with a God complex, Sunshine offers a cerebral insight into these larger than life questions.

The film wouldn't excel in this if it were not for the stellar cast. There's a lot of characters here, with Cillian Murphy's being the main protagonist. Yet Danny Boyle manages to balance each one really well, the interactions between the various characters is perfectly balanced and unnecessary drama (which often tends to plague films with large casts) is avoided here. What elevates this is the atmosphere that Boyle creates - while the audience connects with the characters, there's a profound sense of loneliness and detachment from Earth on the spaceship that really reminds you what the effects of space travel would be like. This really strengthens the immersion of the film and helps elevate it.

It goes without saying, but the absolute best thing about this film is its score. John Murphy's Adagio in D Minor has since become one of the most famous pieces of film music in the 21st century. Chances are that even if you haven't seen this film, you have most definitely heard this music played somewhere, whether that be in a film trailer or commercial. It transcends the film and remains one of my favourite film scores of all time up there with Hans Zimmer's Time (Inception) and John Williams Star Wars theme.

Now while I do want to avoid spoilers, it is essential to mention that this film is quite notorious for an abrupt tonal shift that happens three quarters of the way in. I won't say much about it, simply that this abrupt shift was very divisive for many viewers. Now I actually think it made the film more intriguing, however you may not like it at all.

Anyway, I hope this served as a useful recommendation. I tried my best to praise it while still being vague and not spoiling much. It truly is one of the better sci fi films out there.