I will start with the fact that overall I enjoyed the movie. It felt more like a short story than a full movie. Nonetheless it was entertaining. Here is my list of nitpicking.

1) Bullock takes off her helmet constantly. If I was in a space ship that could be blown apart at any minute by debris, I would keep my helmet on. If it was cold in space, I would keep my helmet on. If I was entering the earths atmosphere, I would keep my fucking helmet on. I know they have her take it off so we can see her head but shit, it annoyed me.

2) At the beginning Clooney is goofing off. That doesn't seem to be like something NASA would allow on any mission. That goofing off comes back to bite Clooney when he runs out of propellant.

3) The scene where Clooney was sacrificed was stupid. They did a pretty good job of getting weightless objects and inertia right on the rest of the movie, but that one scene was turrible. Clooney was stopped and had almost no momentum, he only needed a small tug to be pulled back in.

4) The weakness shown by Bullocks character. I think they made the character a little bit too weak and pussified. I expect more from an astronaut, even a 1st timer. They selectively weed out weak people who give up and are suicidal. You don't get to outer space with an attitude like that. Showing that in the movie seems disingenuous to actually astronauts.


[Edited on October 15, 2013 at 12:11 AM. Reason : .]

10/15/2013 12:09:26 AM

Saw the movie last night and thought it was intense

I really enjoyed it.

I do agree about clooney dicking off in the chair. I was thinking NASA would shit bricks

[Edited on April 23, 2014 at 9:27 AM. Reason : U]

4/23/2014 9:26:55 AM

i watched this movie about a month ago.

i was disappoint.

4/23/2014 10:21:28 AM

I recently watched this for this first time, and it happened to be on a plane. Now, I understand this is about the worst possible environment for the immersive special effects and what not, but I have to say that given the hype, I also was disappoint. I was sorry I watched it instead of several other choices I was considering. I fully concur with the below:

Quote :

"4) The weakness shown by Bullock's character. I think they made the character a little bit too weak and pussified. I expect more from an astronaut, even a 1st timer. They selectively weed out weak people who give up and are suicidal. You don't get to outer space with an attitude like that. Showing that in the movie seems disingenuous to actual astronauts."

I couldn't buy it. This character was just bad. Different genre I guess, but Sigourney Weaver puts her to shame -- big time.

5/17/2014 1:35:09 PM

i thought this movie was pretty terrible

5/17/2014 2:54:24 PM

Ditto.

Sandra Bullock surviving was at the same time the least plausible, most predictable, and most disappointing ending.

5/17/2014 3:28:08 PM

I haven't seen it. My orbital mechanics OCD would prevent me from enjoying it.

5/17/2014 3:34:25 PM

I just redboxed it, and I was entertained
the science was mostly good, the only thing that "bothered" me is she wasn't wearing a ventilation suit (but that was so she could show off her body, so whatever)

the sacrifice of Clooney was a bit much, I thought of Tim Robbins right away


and since dtownral doesn't like it, you know its good

6/14/2014 9:44:13 PM

Hmm i don't know if I should go see this movie after watching this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzzLngXfCcI#t=225

[Edited on June 14, 2014 at 10:10 PM. Reason : /]

6/14/2014 10:09:56 PM

I don't think you can go see it anymore

6/14/2014 10:26:18 PM

ha. i meant online/redbox/rental/etc.

6/14/2014 10:44:43 PM

I still haven't seen it yet, but from what i've heard the changes in orbital positions are ridiculously outrageous.

6/14/2014 11:09:34 PM

you forgot the #nerdcomplaint

6/14/2014 11:16:52 PM

yeah that kind of orbital alignment is extremely lucky, if not impossible

6/14/2014 11:18:07 PM

Saw it, and liked the visual quality but was a little disappointed. I was excited in the beginning when they introduced the debris fallout according to the classical Kessler syndrome, but I was disappointed with how that was used to support a survival in the wilderness type movie that mirrored some sort of video game where you are literally jumped from one level to another. I thought that the "Phone a Friend" scene where Clooney's character comes back to save the day, mirrored many video game clichés where you can obtain another weapon or another lifetime.

Three main things with the plot:

1) I find hard to believe that all of the satellite communication with North America was wiped out in only 15 minutes when it took the thing an hour and a half to make its orbit. Is there really no way that NASA could bounce off of Satelites that orbit further into space?

2) As I said, it immediately turns into a survival movie, but I find it hard to believe that NASA does not have a backup plan in space for a chain reaction of space debris... especially when NASA scientists have been warning about such a doomsday scenario for decades. It would have been cooler if there were survivors left and that they were able to activate some sort of damage control process to contain and stop the spread of debris.

3) Why wouldn't the ppl in Explorer have suited up once they were aware of the debris? And how in the hell were ISIS and the Chinese space station at risk to the "90 min" cloud that threatened this crew when they are in totally different orbits?

Quote :

" 2) At the beginning Clooney is goofing off. That doesn't seem to be like something NASA would allow on any mission. That goofing off comes back to bite Clooney when he runs out of propellant."

I took it as testing out the prototype was just an adjunct mission plan of some sorts. It was his last ride, they wanted to test out the new prototype, so they gave it to him as his farewell mission.

[Edited on July 6, 2014 at 12:03 PM. Reason : n]

7/6/2014 11:48:10 AM