Now, as the ship nears its destination, tensions have begun rising among the crew, particularly between the impassive Capa and the hotheaded American engineer Mace (Evans). The ship's psychological officer, Searle (New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis), meanwhile, has been spending an awful lot of time up on the observation deck, staring straight into the oncoming sun, or at least as much as the heavy optical filters will allow him.

Ship's biologist Corazon (Yeoh), meanwhile, tends the fragile oxygen garden, a greenhouse that provides the ship's breathable air. Trying to keep a steady hand on the crew is Capt. Kaneda (Japan's Hiroyuki Sanada).

Everything seems to be nominal until the ship approaches the orbit of Venus. That's when an odd signal comes over the comm. It's an automated beacon from the Icarus I. After seven years.

Do they go after it? Mace says no: There's too much at stake, and besides, they have only a limited amount of resources. But Capa believes they could retrieve the original bomb. Better to have a spare in case theirs malfunctions for some reason. Kaneda reluctantly agrees. They change course.

That's when things go horribly wrong. Navigation officer Trey (Benedict Wong) has made a miscalculation, endangering the ship and necessitating a risky spacewalk.

Cut off from Earth communications, the crew struggle to repair the delicate ship while remaining focused on the mission. But will unseen forces put them in greater jeopardy than they can imagine, with Earth's future at stake?

A fresh take on a well-worn genre

Sunshine, from the writer and director of the hit 28 Days Later, does for the SF space-mission genre what the earlier film did for zombies: reinvigorate it with a dazzling visual sense, suspenseful story and heartfelt characters unlike the cardboard cutouts that usually populate such fare.

Director Boyle, whose previous work has comprised such diverse films as Trainspotting and Millions, said he took on Sunshine as a way to challenge himself creatively in a genre with which he had little familiarity. This could have been both a bad and a good thing; in this case, it works out mostly to the benefit of the movie.

Sunshine necessarily calls to mind previous excellent films in the subgenre, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running and Solaris, not to mention less worthy examples such as Mission to Mars and Red Planet. Fortunately, Boyle has taken lessons from his betters and brings a fresh approach to the material, avoiding the usual cliches and stereotypes. In particular, he brings a unifying sense of light and darkness that underscores the central metaphor of the story and genre (the journey into outer space mirrors the journey inward) with visuals unlike those we've seen before. With a budget of $40 million, many times his usual, Boyle makes good use of computer visual effects and terrific production design (from Mark Tildesley) to bring to life his otherworldly story with a look that is something new: You can practically feel the heat and light start to blister your skin.

About those characters: Boyle has cast his story with faces familiar from previous movies (such as 28 Days' Murphy) and ones that are new to him (Fantastic Four's Evans), but in all cases he has chosen actors best suited to their quirky, conflicted characters. The international flavor of the cast, which also includes a subdued Yeoh, adds to the movie's distinctiveness and freshness. Boyle had his cast share living quarters for a few weeks before shooting, among other things, and the preparation shows in the realism of their increasingly stressed interactions.