`Sunshine’

When it comes to feature films set in space, at one end of the spectrum, we have snicker-inducing messes like "Battlefield Earth." At the other end, there are films such as the original 1972 "Solaris" or "2001: A Space Odyssey" which call for admiration, even if the only time you’ve managed to stay awake through their entirety was when you were stoned out of your mind in college.

Director Danny Boyle’s "Sunshine," the story of eight American astronauts sent on a mission to restart our dying sun by detonating an enormous bomb on its surface, is definitely positioned toward the "Solaris" end of the spectrum. But "Sunshine" has the benefit of being far too lively to put you to sleep. It’s also beautiful, intriguing and a lot of fun, right up until the last 20 minutes or so, when a dramatic contrivance steers the plot into black-hole territory.

Visually the film feels elegant and high tech _ thanks to cinematographer Alwin Kuchler and production designer Mark Tildesley _ but there’s also something old-fashioned about "Sunshine’s" sensibility. Maybe it’s because it seems to have a genuine curiosity about science, rather than the usual desperate grab for some asteroids hurtling toward Earth. The film aspires to a sort of crazy intellectualism, although frankly its most memorable visual is a golden space suit that ought to inspire Gucci’s next $3,500 handbag.

The astronauts are very young and almost alarmingly attractive, so much so that you wonder whether the newly chilly Earth can really afford to lose such hotties.

Noble, self-sacrificing Kaneda, played by Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, is in charge of the Icarus II. Its predecessor Icarus I disappeared seven years before, which you’d think might give them pause about using the same name. On the other hand, what else are you going to call a mission to the sun?

The crew member with the biggest Icarus complex is medical officer Searle (Cliff Curtis from "Whale Rider"), who likes to sit in the observation deck, slap on protective glasses and take secret peeks at the sun’s awesome power. Then there’s Mace (Chris Evans), the glowering engineer and steadfast proponent of never deviating from the mission, even when common decency calls for a detour.

Mace is good with both a screwdriver and a snappy retort. "What are you trying to remind me of, our lost humanity?" he asks during a tense negotiation over whether diminishing oxygen supplies require jettisoning a crew member. The navigator is Trey (Benedict Wong) and second in command is Harvey (Troy Garity), whose manner of whining calls to mind Ross on "Friends" and immediately suggests expendability.

At the steering wheel is Cassie (Rose Byrne), while Corazon (Michelle Yeoh) tends the oxygen garden. It’s nice that screenwriter Alex Garland ("The Beach") remembered to put women on board, even if one of them is piloting the minivan and the other’s worrying about dinner.

But the real star of the film is Capa, the ship’s physicist, played by Irish actor Cillian Murphy ("Batman Begins,""Red Eye"). This is a reunion for Murphy and Boyle, who directed Murphy in his breakthrough film, the similarly gloomy minded "28 Days Later." Capa is dreamy and deep, but while concerned with the future of mankind doesn’t take himself too seriously.

When the crew, leaving the point of contact with Earth, is told they can send final messages home, a reserved Capa gazes into the camera and says: "Mom, Dad, I hope you are proud of your son, saving mankind and so on." Murphy gives us a lot in his delivery of that line, the quirky sense of humor of the man, his youth and the poignancy of a son saying goodbye.

In theory, Icarus II can make it back after dropping its bomb, but the likelihood is slim. Capa goes on to explain that on Earth, they’ll only know Icarus II succeeded in its mission if one day, the sun suddenly seems a bit brighter. "Sunshine" is unusual in that it makes us pin our hopes on something so small. Having set us up with such a simple hope _ really honorable in the realm of what we’re used to in apocalyptic movies _ it then feels obligated to give us some sort of twist near the end to ramp up the tension.

Unfortunately (no spoilers here) the twist seems to come out of another move entirely, not the one we’ve been so engaged in. That’s a shame _ unless you are a stoned college student, in which case, "Sunshine" is going to be the best movie you’ve ever seen.

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SUNSHINE

3 stars

Starring: Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans, Troy Garity, Cillian Murphy, Hiroyuki Sanada, Mark Strong, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh

Director: Danny Boyle

Rated: R for violence and language

Running time: 1 hour, 48 minutes

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(c) 2007, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.).

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