A group of astronauts are in space doing some maintenance or upgrading work on the Hubble Space Telescope when the Russians decided to terminate one of their satellites. This set a chain reaction of the debris blasting away plenty of other satellites, sending space debris hurtling towards the group. Needless to say, the survivors are our two main stars, first timer Dr. Ryan Stone and veteran mission leader Lt. Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) who is on his last mission.
To my limited knowledge in movies, this seems like one of a kind fiction where two astronauts are basically lost in space - communications with Earth totally cut off and limited resources at their disposal to get to a nearby space station to use one of its escape pods. They are further challenged with things such as low oxygen levels, returning space debris as they return from orbiting around Earth in super high speed, and the fear of hurtling around the darkness of vacuum space...
Being a veteran, Kowalski comes across as a cool leader while greenhorn Stone had to come to terms with the situation, which appear to be more and more hopeless as the movie progresses. These loneliness in space reminds me of Tom Hank's "Cast Away" which I loved.
I had much misgivings after first reading about the plot (what is there to talk about being lost in space!?) and watching the first trailer but excellent reviews and a more exciting trailer tempted me to go watch it... and it was quite good, actually.
Plot originality - lost in space in a realistic setting? I've not heard of this one before and to make a feature length movie out of it? Wow. 5/5
Entertaining value - I felt the movie was a wee bit short but I suppose it might come out as boring if prolonged. 3/5
I don't find it as heart-pounding as the synopsis claimed unless you really immerse yourself in deep space... This review is based on the normal version. You'd probably get really more thrilled if you watch it on 3D... 3/5
Sandra Bullock shows off some of her better panicky acting while George Clooney's coolness doesn't leave much for him to shine through. 3/5
Definitely one to recommend but I don't think it will become a classic. 3/5
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