“Space the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise”… Not. This is the voyage of Dr. Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first trip to space. Her mission is servicing The Hubble Telescope with two other astronauts, Matt Kowalski and Shariff. As they are working, Houston warns the trio of a Russian missile strike on a dysfunctional Russian satellite. The debri from the satellite causes a chain reaction which results in the destruction of other satellites and sending the pieces into orbit. With chunks of metal hurtling towards them at faster than “bullet speeds” the crew is ordered to abort the mission. However, the order is too late and the debri kills Shariff and sends Stone into a free float leaving Kowalski to find her.
The film focuses on the emotions of one specific character, Stone. In fact through most of the movie Stone is the only character to focus on. At the beginning Stone is an insecure and apprehensive person but then grows into a strong, risk-taking woman. After hearing the tragic back story of Stone — her daughters accidental death on the playground — there is a slight understanding of her emotional state.
An unrealistic part of this movie is how inexperienced and novice Stone seems to be. She should have all the specific training to do these missions but she seems extremely panicked about everything. It is her first time in space but training should prepare her for most of the obstacles she faces such as driving an escape pod and landing a pod. But she has to look in the handbooks for instructions and take orders from Kowalski. It was very unprofessional.
The camera work was brilliant; changing points of view varying with speech and thoughts. Popping out of helmets It was very thrilling. Following stray objects floating in space such as tears, balls of fire, packets of food, and even a Marvin the Martian figure kept the attention constant. The musical score was thrilling with slower, quiet parts almost to the point of silence, and then suddenly to match the action on the screen loud striking music will fill the theater.
As far as the scare factor, there were a few parts that were truly frightening. Once in the movie the camera is focused on a floating object and suddenly shifts to a body that bumped Stone’s space suit, but small short shots and the concept of getting lost in space are the only “scary” parts.
Overall the film was an intense mix of action and thrill with bits of comedy and a whiff of horror. Be warned that there are parts where the screen constantly is moving and it is dizzying. As Stone spins through open space the camera follows her first person creating a constant spinning motion on the screen, so those with a weak stomach be warned.