Overrated eye candy combined with failed drama

Rating: 4/10 (11 October 2013)

Let's get it out of the way - this film has beautiful effects and camera shots, especially in IMAX + 3D.
I wanted to like this movie. I wanted to be immersed in it and live in a different world for a little while. I was unable to do that so let me try to save you the same disappointment.
The first problem is with the mission team. We have one man in a "prototype" jet pack zooming around without a tether while telling rambling stories, another man bouncing around on a tether like a child giddy with zero-g excitement, and a woman attempting to install a device into the Hubble telescope. Houston repeatedly asks the woman how she is doing since her vitals are concerning - it turns out she is very uncomfortable in space and is trying not to freak out or throw up. She is unable to get the device successfully installed.
What? What kind of astronaut team is this?
Soon things go bad, for a vaguely plausible reason. Here, at 10% in, the film ceases to be about space, science, science fiction, humanity, relationships, or anything interesting and becomes a story about one person's inability to cope. In the foreground there are of course the eye candy, the explosions, and the jarring soundtrack, but the drama is forced mainly by character flaw and comes across as overblown and surprisingly misogynistic. The protagonist is also the antagonist. Bleh
This director did a great job with Children of Men, so I guess he should stick to adaptations.
For a better experience, check out Space Cowboys or the 3D film at the Kennedy Space Center of real astronauts doing the real thing which I found much more immersive and exciting.