special effects / disaster movie

Rating: 7/10 (14 June 2014)

I expected the movie to be about the psychological tensions of being a female captain in a traditionally male-dominated world. Nope that was not it at all. Sandra Bullock is the only character alive for most of the movie. She has to carry the entire movie. It is a special effects/disaster flick. She moves from one space station to another, escaping by the skin of her teeth, as they are blown to bits by space debris.
The special effects are quite believable. I don't know how they were done. People and objects float rotating serenely. There are no crude wires to get in the way of the action.
The space stations are incredibly cramped. I can imagine the locker room smell. They look completely plausible. I had waves of claustrophobia just looking an them on the TV screen.
The movie ended too soon. I was far from convinced she was home free. I wanted to see something of what happened to her character, Ryan Stone, after she made it back to earth.
Some things did not make sense. What was this somewhat clueless woman doing on a space station? Why could she walk immediately after months in space? Why is there so much noise in space especially when dialogue makes the point there isn't? Why is there no way to make radio contact with earth from any of the space stations?
For me it was too repetitive. Too much action and not enough psychology. It is a boy flick masquerading as a chick flick.