Analyze even the most inventive of auteurs, and it's shocking how predictable they actually can be. Wes Anderson has recycled the loving friction between men and their father figures to make the same quirk-filled movie four times (so far, anyway: totally chuffed to see this fall's "The Darjeeling Limited"). John Waters' decades of productivity have yielded exactly one now-tiresome plot that eternally pits the weirdos against the prudes. Rarer are those who have harnessed the ability to skip from genre to genre with capricious ease: I'm thinking of gutsy filmmakers like Ang Lee, Michael Winterbottom, and Danny Boyle, who invariably zig when others are content to zag.

Boyle, you may remember, is the man who defined heroin chic via 1995's "Trainspotting," dragged the zombie flick into the 21st century with 2002's "28 Days Later," and then resurfaced a couple years after that bearing the flawless family film "Millions." His latest project is the ambitious "Sunshine," which reunites him with "28 Days Later" screenwriter Alex Garland and star Cillian Murphy (as well as "Trainspotting" musicmakers Underworld) for an existential space odyssey about eight astronauts embarked on a crucial mission to reignite our dying sun.

"Sunshine" joins the crew of the pessimistically named Icarus II after 16 claustrophobic months in space during which the interpersonal dynamics have been firmly established. Alpha-male engineer Mace (a startlingly good Chris Evans, "Fantastic Four") and calm physicist Capa (played by Murphy and his luscious blue eyes) seem to be perpetually at odds, and the conflict only escalates once Icarus II picks up a distress beacon from the assumed-doomed Icarus I, lost seven years previous. Mace argues that they not veer from the task at hand, which is to drop a nuclear device onto the sun, while Capa believes that the potential of an extra payload - amounting to two chances to save mankind - trumps any risk of a detour.

Successfully ricocheting from summer sci-fi extravaganza to Agatha Christie thriller to Kubrickian study of the fury of God, the folly of man, and the hubristic perils of flying too close to the sun, "Sunshine" remains intense, dazzling moviemaking even through the frustrating third act, which features a semi-implausible contrivance that asks more questions than it answers. Garland's philosophical script both embraces the clichés of the film's various genres and then slyly subverts them, whether it's through Icarus II's all-knowing artificial intelligence or the gallant sacrifice of one life for the greater good.

Standouts from the international cast of "Sunshine" are Hiroyuki Sanada ("The White Countess") as the cool captain and Cliff Curtis ("Whale Rider") as the psychiatrist whose obsession with staring into the sun borders on the orgasmic. The biggest star of the film, however, is also the hottest star, with cinematographer Alwin Kuchler employing both the sun's blinding presence and chilly absence to ominous effect. But in a film fraught with tension and menace, the scariest aspect of "Sunshine" may be that it's set a mere 50 years from now.

Ever heard of the term "magic hour"? Oh, it's not dirty or anything, though it certainly sounds like it should be. The magic hour refers to that sublime time between daylight and dusk when the sky is blazing with colors too gorgeous for mortal names, and it takes center stage in Terrence Malick's seminal 1978 film "Days of Heaven," which stars Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, and Sam Shepard in a Texas love triangle about a couple of farm laborers who scam their way into a dying man's life, only to have their efforts backfire amidst fits of jealousy and murder.

Widely considered to contain the most painterly, breathtaking images ever captured on film, "Days of Heaven" isn't without its ugly side. Malick would spend two exhaustive years editing the movie, and he didn't direct a feature again for another two decades, until 1998's equally stunning "The Thin Red Line." Cinematographer Néstor Almendros won the Oscar for his work on "Days of Heaven," a fact that, according to the documentary "Tell Them Who You Are," maddens fellow lenser Haskell Wexler, who shot the last 19 days of footage when Almendros left to honor a previous commitment to Truffaut. Regardless of who ran the camera, it's Malick's vision, accented by a glorious Morricone score, and it is the perfect film for a summer night.

"Sunshine"(R), directed by Danny Boyle, is now playing at area theaters | "Days of Heaven"(R), written and directed by Terrence Malick, screens at the George Eastman House's Dryden Theatre on Friday, August 3, at 8 p.m.