Good movie but flawed physics

Rating: 7/10 (5 October 2013)

The movie is a treat for the senses in every way. Visual, auditory, and fairly exciting. I enjoyed the movie (seen in 3D) and rank it fairly high in terms of good science fiction.
**SPOILER** **SPOILER** An issue I have is with one aspect of the movie that ignores the laws of physics, yet this aspect becomes a plot point from which all else follows. I'm guessing many (most?) won't know, notice, care about this - but those of us with a science background will catch it immediately.
When Bullock and Clooney overshoot the ISS and Bullock gets entangled in the Soyuz parachute cord, Clooney (still tethered to Bullock) zips by but then, as the tether reaches its max length, he is jerked to a halt. The reality is this would have triggered a shift in momentum back along the vector he was traveling - he would have "bounced" as it were and been pushed back towards Bullock. End of story, so the writers ignored this (see Newton's Laws). Even if the event portrayed was accurate, we clearly see that all of Clooney's momentum has been negated. So at that point, both Bullock and Clooney have zero momentum (relative to each other, relative to the ISS). At that point - Bullock could have grabbed the parachute line and pulled (momentum towards the ISS would be the result) or could have grabbed the tether and pulled Clooney towards her or Clooney might have been able to get out of the jetpack, give it a good push away from himself, and once again be pushed towards Bullock as he gained momentum in the opposite direction. In all cases - the 2 could have easily made it to the ISS. It would have been a better story in my opinion - killing off Clooney was just a plot device to give Sandra an "all alone" aspect.
There are several other flaws in how physics is ignored in the movie - but they are much more technical and it is a movie after all. Most would not notice.