What a shame! a to-the-point review:

Rating: 3/10 (5 March 2014)

As most have said, in a nutshell, all of the focus on special effects and cinematography left for a neglected storyline. What a shame! Just watched it last night after much anticipation and wondered where the tension had gone that was exhibited in the trailers.
It wasn't gripping, it didn't make me care about the characters, a lot was confusing to the layman who doesn't know anything about space engineering... the list goes on. Best actor was Ed Harris who opened the film as 'Houston'- couldn't see him, but he certainly sounded the most natural, a great contrast to every line by uttered by Clooney (too bad, as I like Bullock and I'm fine with Clooney when he plays Ocean-style characters).
The only success if I were forced to list one (again, apart from the special effects, which like others have mentioned, lost the awe surrounding them anyway after having grown accustomed to the space views deeper into the film) is that I did feel the exposure and the vulnerability of floating in the vast, black emptiness of space, effectively emphasized by the contrast demonstrated upon re-entry into the relatively safe interior of a spacecraft or space station. But they blew it with the lack of character development, not making me feel any anxiety for Bullock or Clooney in this capacity, only for myself were I put into their situation. Again, a shame. Instead of being engrossed in Bullock's storyline or performance, we found ourselves speculating upon why her hair didn't stand up while inside the cabin in the absence of gravity and other trivialities.
Basically they left the plot line in the dust. This would have been better as a documentary about space, rather than incorporating a fictional screenplay. Glad we didn't purchase it on Blu Ray, not worth a re-watch. It's not AWFUL, but it's boring, so earning at most a 3.