excellent space survival money, BUT NOT scientifically accurate

Rating: 9/10 (26 October 2013)

The movie itself is excellent, and so far, with the exception of Avatar, it is the only one which really justifies 3D. From the very beginning , very close to IMAX shuttle films, which I have seen in Paris and the National Air and space museum, the movie is breathtaking.The visual and sound (I will come to that) are absolutely flabbergasting,and the efforts to recreate weightlessness conditions are astonishing: compare the single "floating pen" in 2001 with the amount of debris hovering inside the ISS, and you will realize what I mean. I must admit I was totally captured by the race for survival of Sandra Bullock. Yet: The shuttle was reformed (alas) in July 2011, if I am right, Tiangong 1 was launched September 2011....Besides, the Tiangong we see in the film is more like Tiangong 3 than Tiangong 1.....so far, I am not aware of a additional Shenzou left over on Tiangong. The Tiangon we see is also more like the still to be launched Tiangong 3 than the present Tiangong ..... ISS and Hubble are on two different orbits The concept that an MMU (or MMU like vehicle, which is the case here) would be able to make a straight on voyage from shuttle (anchored to Hubble) to ISS does not stand. The same applies (even more ) for the retrorockets of Soyuz aiming it at the Tiangong. A rendez-vous needs a lot of maneuvers, even more if you need to change orbits, as would be the case (ISS and Tiangong are,I repeat, on different orbits) The debris should NOT elicit noise outside the ISS, in space (that is paradoxically most frightening). Tiangong is not a mere copy of Soyuz by many respects. It is unlikely, given changes in electronics, etc...that one could have the same functions on exactly the same buttons. Shenzou are,as was/ is Soyuz, not equipped to float..;(this was the case for some ZOND, you know, the vessel which was intended by the Soviets to circle the moon with humans before Apollo 8, but only carried animals, Brejnev refusing Leonov to go with a vessel which did not appear safe enough after failures). Thus, the Shenzhou should have sinked immediately after earthing in the sea (or a lake ??) ETC..... But.... is that really that important ? Is gunfight at OK corral the exact rendition of the real thing ? certainly not...Yet ....it is a classic what excited me in that move is that it is "accurate enough" to make you believe in what happens....And in that respect , i certainly delivers One minor point : as for Avatar, I am not sure that even a very large LED 3D TV will give you later on the same effects as a big screen. For my sake, I watched it upon director's recommendation in the Pathe Wepler, and this was breathtaking