A bad movie being sold as a masterpiece...

Rating: 2/10 (8 January 2014)

If I was making a pros and cons of this movie the pros list would contain two entries: 1. it was often visually stunning, and 2. it was well scored. The rest of the movie would go into the cons column.
The first entry in the list of cons would be: they don't let obviously mentally disturbed people go into space (exit stage left Ryan Stone). After the first entry on the cons list this movie unravels faster than a cheap sweater. It doesn't just defy the laws of physics, it hits them over the head and buries them in a shallow grave. I would have totally overlooked the physics problems and even the overly sentimental 'therapy chair in space' theme if they hadn't built the whole film on the premise that Russians are morons. That nugget of racism bugged me from the moment it was introduced and made me feel like I was being hit over the head with a blunt instrument of propaganda.
I went into the cinema expecting something good, perhaps even great (considering the buzz) and in the end I left (before the movie finished, which was a first for me) with buyer's remorse and a lingering feeling of extreme aggravation.