I really wanted to enjoy this movie...

Rating: 3/10 (10 December 2013)

I'd heard people raving about how good this movie was but last night, just before I went to watch it, a friend told me that it had been largely panned by the critics. However, in a backflip, someone (perhaps a critic or someone else with a lot of clout in the movie industry), gave it glowing accolades and essentially turned the reviews around from terrible to a must-see.
It seems that the possible turkey of a movie is now a "must see" based on the number of glowing reviews.
Anyway, onto the review... co-written; co-produced and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, this is visually, a lovely movie. The cinematography of the space scenes (ie. outside of the craft) were a feast for the eyes.
However, the storyline itself, left a lot to be desired. Bullock plays a "brilliant medical engineer" who is on her first space outing.
The first thing I found amazing /implausible was when she is ordered to return to the spacecraft due to incoming space debris, she refused to move until she had calibrated some equipment. A person who is in space for the first time would adhere to the orders of a senior crew member who has been in space many times before.
Next, the efforts to retrieve a dead colleague who was killed during the space storm meant that Bullock was almost out of oxygen by the time she reached the spaceship. Would you risk two other people dying (Clooney & Bullock), in order to rescue a dead body ??? I think not.
Next, during a close-up of Bullock in her space suit, she's got layers of mascara on her eyelashes. It could have been eased back a bit to make it more "plausible" - OK, maybe I'm nitpicking here, but it's my review.
During the fire inside the spaceship, Bullock doesn't raise a bead of sweat, despite being in an oxygen rich environment. She's just too cool all throughout her continuing ordeals.
When she lands on Earth, Bullock is stuck in a spacepod that is fast filling with water. She can't easily get out of the pod before it sinks... Wait a second... I thought pods were meant to float, so that the astronauts could get out when the boat /helicopter arrives. It made no sense that it sank.
While underwater, Bullock finds she is not able to swim because of her space suit being worn. Amazingly, she is able to just pull it off like a Velcro suit and swim to the surface and then onto the sea shore.
At that point, Bullock finds that she can't easily move because of "Gravity".
Roll credits.
I'm giving it a really low rating in order to balance out the implausibly high ratings.
Wait for it to be released on DVD - you won't be missing a lot in the meantime.