A Space Movie that would have been better Without Stars

Rating: 2/10 (18 October 2013)

A sure sign a movie isn't working when you never stop thinking, "I'm watching George Clooney and Sandra Bullock."
I expected so much more, based on the glowing reviews/ratings. The hype must have been orchestrated, or there are some who just go gaga over the idea of Clooney and Bullock together. Nonstop idiotic dialog be damned.
The model for great action films starring a single woman character is Sigourney Weaver in Alien. Bullock exhibited little of the same grit and determination. Clooney's character was far too cavalier about sacrificing his life, as if there was another movie he needed to get away to.
The film is NOTHING more than an action/disaster movie set in space. Everything that made 2001: A Space Odyssey so remarkable is missing entirely from this film. There is no depth, no sense of the existential narrative of humans leaving their world. Well, there was only one Kubrick, wasn't there?
Alfonso Cuarón did a brilliant job with Children of Men. One can only hope that this film, like Elysium, is simply a misstep in the careers of two brilliant young directors. In both cases buckets of money were thrown at these followup projects and big name stars were insisted on. All for naught.