Gripping

Rating: 8/10 (13 January 2017)

The suspense got me because I honestly didn't know what would happen. It didn't occur to me that the only 2 people in the film were Sandra Bullock and George Clooney - it didn't need any more. The outcome was not predetermined and I felt that anything could happen, even at the end. The CGI was obviously very impressive. Having now seen the International Space Station on TV from the perspective of British astronaut Tim Peake, I think I probably got more out of this than if I had seen it beforehand. I knew that if an astronaut is floating in space, they have to grab one of the handles on the outside of the space craft and preferably tether themselves to it. I wasn't surprised to see Russian writing in the Soyuz and that Sandra Bullock's character was not fazed by that - she was trained. I feel that the response of a highly professional scientist to a dire emergency in space was realistic. Even though she was facing death, she remained relatively calm (most of the time). Recently, I have had cancer and faced death myself. The calmness shown in this film is genuine, and believe it or not it is possible to be accepting. I am getting better, by the way.
In summary, I found this movie very exciting, gripping and believable - almost. The disaster may not be realistic, but the human response to it was convincing. I applaud the achievement.