A shocking pity

Rating: 4/10 (19 October 2019)

The movie rides on it's truly spectacular visuals and space perspectives of Earth, and what it's like to work in near orbit. It has great production values: the music score, cinematography, and overall direction are excellent. And Clooney's performance never disappoints.
The script, however, turns out to be shockingly bad. So much so that I had to skip over scenes that were just too annoying to bear. Inaccurate physics, convenient to weak script writing, was the first thing to lose the plot and me as a viewer. All the more illogical and peculiar since this is a movie founded in the marvels of science.
But the disappointment didn't stop there. Bullock portrays a caricaturish, 80s style hysterical woman, who is so out of her mind that she's forgotten how to operate her own body, never mind a space capsule; and too often delivers corny, sentimental, self indulgent, overly long monologues that can't possibly appeal to any emotional adult. Or, at the very least, I can't see it appealing to a viewer looking to be entertained, not observe an emotional basket case navigate outer space.
Then there are the unrealistic plot points. Like every time she makes it to the next vehicle, so does the debris, even though the 90 min orbit time hasn't elapsed, etc.
The often ludicrous and hysterical script continues when she finally makes it back to Earth. There, she almost drowns in the capsule, but escapes, then can't ascend because of her suit, then almost gets tangled in kelp...
The final blow, just as the movie reaches its end with just 5% credibility remaining, she reaches the shore, but she can't stand up as if she's been lying on her back in zero gravity for months on end. And just her ability to stand again is supposed to be the grand finale of the film's message and raison d'être.
This film earned multiple awards, and its hard to say why. And it's a real pity, as it seems such a simple remedy: write a better script. It let the rest of the production down. The movie could have been fantastic.