After seeing it theatrically, I'm sooo gonna own this!

Rating: 8/10 (14 November 2009)

I thought it was kind of daring for a US movie to open up with two non-white, non-American characters, although that has been done before. What I think is new, is that the opening character REMAINS as a lead character, throughout the movie.
A note to all the whiners and 16 year olds who suddenly discovered that a movie should have a plot, a storyline, developing characters etc.:
!!!!! IT'S A DISASTER MOVIE!!!!!! No-one is saying this film should be aiming for any dramatic achievement, even though the acting is good and the story line not that implausible.
So, to judge it on its merits as disaster movie alone, yes this is a winner. Does it out-do its predecessors? Yes, that too.
This movie really moves you, literally. I was twisting in my seat as was going through every motion the characters were going through, I was just THAT much caught up in the movie.
This comment page seems to have evolved into who ever can think up the most other disaster films this movie emulates. Get over it. Every detective/scifi/cowboy/rom-com movie has similarities to every OTHER detective/scifi/cowboy/rom-com movie, that's why it's called a GENRE.
I for one found the government's role totally believable. It's kind of carefully sitting on the fence here: Private companies financed this for a billion euros per seat, but governments organized it, so government CAN get things right! This is completely against current American culture of hating government.
There was a good realism vs idealism conflict at the end, where it turns out that OF COURSE the CIA or whoever killed anybody who tried to expose this, but that the Idealist eventually wins by letting the poor workers into to the ship.
The best thing about this movie? I set my phone to come online after two hours, not knowing how long it would last. I was completely surprised when the 2 hours mark sounded. So much happens in this movie time flies by. This is an essential ingredient in story telling, by it via book, film or oral history around the campfire.
The Melancholic Alcoholic.