Video: October Sky

Herald rating: * * * *

Running time: 108 mins

In stores: Now

Review: Ewan McDonald

Four boys in Appalachia are determined to build their own rocket and get America into the space race after the Soviet Union launches the first sputnik in 1957.

Their leader, Homer Hickham (Jake Gyllenhaal), sees the sputnik, starts reading Jules Verne and enlists the class brain and a couple of mates to provide the muscle.

As their project grows, more of the coal-mining village become involved, worrying Homer's dad, the mine supervisor.

He and the school principal see the boys' and the town's future in the mines, not in space.

Cue tension; cue one of the better high school/family/coming-of-age films around in a while.