Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone - tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness.Written by
MuTaTeD
Alfonso Cuarón, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, and visual effects supervisor Tim Webber decided they couldn't make the film they wanted using traditional methods. For the space-walk scenes, says Webber, "We decided to shoot (the actors') faces and create everything else digitally." To do that, Lubezki decided he needed to light the actors' faces to match the all-digital environment. Whether the characters were floating gently, changing direction or tumbling in vacuum, the facial light would need to perfectly match Earth, Sol and the other stars in the background. "That can break easily," explains Lubezki, "if the light is not moving at the speed that it has to move, if the position of the light is not right, if the contrast or density on the faces is wrong." Lubezki suggested folding an L.E.D. screen into a box, putting the actor inside, and using the light from the screen to light the actor. That way, rather than moving either Sandra Bullock or George Clooney in the middle of static lights, the projected image could move while they stayed still. The "light box", key to the space-walk scenes was a nine-foot cube just big enough for one actor. See more »
Goofs
Stone has not yet found the ISS hatch while Kowalkski continuously talks to her. Despite knowing she is absolutely out of air, with carbon dioxide poisoning beginning, she stops trying to save herself to listen, and doesn't resume until he finally stops. While he might have been trying to keep her awake, he almost certainly would have had her describe what she was doing in an ongoing commentary, so he could tell if she started drifting off. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Mission Control:
Please verify that the P1 ATA removal on replacement cap part 1 and 2 are complete.
Explorer Captain:
DMA, M1, M2, M3 and M4 are complete.
Mission Control:
Okay. Copy that, Explorer. Dr. Stone, Houston. Medical is concerned about your ECG readings.
Ryan Stone:
I'm fine, Houston.
Mission Control:
Well, medical doesn't agree, Doc. Are you feeling nauseous?
Ryan Stone:
Not anymore than usual, Houston. Diagnostics are green. Link to communications card ready for data reception. If this works, when we touch down tomorrow, I'm buying all you guys a round of drinks.
Mission Control:
...
[...] See more »
Crazy Credits
The credits end with the sound of a radio transmission and a man counting down: "Three, two, one, mark." See more »
The visuals for this movie are impressive. The story line is enjoyable, and it leaves you appreciating your place on Earth. The characters also provide some good laughs.
It was one of the better 'space' movies. However, as a geek (I know, I know it's a movie) the orbits are all wrong for some of the events to even remotely take place. So if you know anything about space travel, as usual suspend disbelief for the moment. It at least stayed largely true to the no sounds in space thing, and provides some good lessons about linear and angular momentum. The fact I even get to bring this up, means I give the film makers some serious props... I wouldn't go so far as some of the reviews where they says the movie is creating a whole "new genre". The reviewers and movie makers just never realized, until now, what us geeks knew all along... space is much more awesome and frightening if you portray it more realistically.
Hopefully the movie also provides a good reminder about how special this little rock is, and how unforgivable the rest of the universe is. Let's try and keep our planet that way! At least I was reminded of this when I left the theater.
276 of 500 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
The visuals for this movie are impressive. The story line is enjoyable, and it leaves you appreciating your place on Earth. The characters also provide some good laughs.
It was one of the better 'space' movies. However, as a geek (I know, I know it's a movie) the orbits are all wrong for some of the events to even remotely take place. So if you know anything about space travel, as usual suspend disbelief for the moment. It at least stayed largely true to the no sounds in space thing, and provides some good lessons about linear and angular momentum. The fact I even get to bring this up, means I give the film makers some serious props... I wouldn't go so far as some of the reviews where they says the movie is creating a whole "new genre". The reviewers and movie makers just never realized, until now, what us geeks knew all along... space is much more awesome and frightening if you portray it more realistically.
Hopefully the movie also provides a good reminder about how special this little rock is, and how unforgivable the rest of the universe is. Let's try and keep our planet that way! At least I was reminded of this when I left the theater.