Surviving in space ain't easy

Rating: 9/10 (10 March 2014)

With the only introduction of some uncomforting music, the viewer get's thrown into space and the theme for the rest of the movie is set immediately. 2 people are doing maintenance on a shuttle, Ryan (Sandra Bullock and Matt (George Clooney) and you know they are not going to have an easy time in space. Ryan is a conflicted woman and it looks like she is literally trying to escape her problems by being in space. Only to find way more trouble up there forcing her to face herself.
It's amazing to see planet earth from a distance in the background during almost the entire time and it's an remarkable achievement how they manage to recreate space. The fact that almost everything take's place in there make's this film even more fascinating.
Of course the idea of astronauts in space getting in trouble definitely isn't a new thing for horror/science fiction movies but the way Alfonso(director) handles this subject is really refreshing. This is because although this film is labeled as Science-fiction, there isn't really something futuristic in it and Alfonso tried to keep it real and personal in terms of the story and thank god there aren't aliens showing up all of a sudden. Let's be honest, the idea of being stuck in space is already horrifying enough on itself. Especially because it's so dangerous and yet we still know so little about it.
The film really plays out like a kind of horror movie because in the end it's all about escaping death and trying to survive. It sucks you in from the start and doesn't let you go until the titles roll 80 minutes later. This is also mainly because of the marvelous presentation. This kind of movie magic is really rare to happen I personally think and i haven't seen it for a long time in a big Hollywood production. The last time was with Christopher Nolan's Inception. It really depends on having an talented director with his own vision and giving him a large amount of money to play with. Of course this has been going wrong a lot of times but once in a time you have a director who is able to do something special with it. He really creates a fascinating setting and uses the budget to enforce the experience instead of using special effects only for the wow factor. This is a thing which is to be seen in a painfully lot of big budget Hollywood movies.
There's only one small drawback for me in this movie and that are the actors. Sandra bullock does a descent job portraying an woman alone in space trying to survive and George Clooney is playing the charming guy as always. It's just that for me, this movie would be way more believable if I didn't have to look at actors i've seen an dozen times before, but instead just some unfamiliar faces who could be anyone. Of course it ain't a big problem because you have to link famous names to an big production. This movie really is an new landmark in Hollywood after inception, creating something special with large amounts of money instead of making an special effect show-reel out of it.