Sometimes I feel that in Hollywood it must be illegal to make any movie about space without the customary dialogue "Houston, we have a problem". Well, this movie ain't any exception except that Houston behaves like the proverbial cops in the Hindi movies - they arrive on the scene just before the credits start rolling. At least, a voice from mission control does. So if you plan to look out for Ed Harris in this movie, just don't bother.
What's the plot then? We have Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a doctor + engineer, on her first shuttle mission. And then we have Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) (looking every bit American, not even an ounce of Russian! Maybe he is a Russian American) who, we are told, is not only an astronaut but also a very experienced one. This is his last voyage before he hangs his boots - and space helmet, Oxygen tank etc. There is one more astronaut who I believe is depicted as an Indian because he sings 'Mera Joota Hai Japani' while flying in circles as Ryan and Matt attempt some repair or other in space.
Of course, the 'big bad' Russians are at it again. This time they manage to blow some satellite or something like that (I can't be sure what because I was too busy gawking at the aqua blue globe of earth and munching on Caramel popcorn to pay attention to the dialogues). The point is that this sets off a chain reaction in which debris start flying through the space and Houston warns the astronauts that they better be indoors. Of course, Ryan being the pig-headed woman that she is (ain't this a stereotype?), refuses to immediately abandon whatever she is doing. By the time she does, it is already too late. The debris arrive on the scene and in the ensuing confusion, Ryan is set adrift in space. Matt manages to reel her back in but the singing Indian is already dead (did they really have to blow part of his face off?). Since the communication is knocked out of order, Houston is blissfully unaware of this space drama. Lucky them!
Matt and Ryan set the course for the International Space Station (ISS). To add more excitement to this space journey, Ryan is running out of Oxygen and running on fumes (perhaps more literally than figuratively!). When they reach the ISS, she fails to grab on to anything and Matt has to be the knight in the shining white armor again. It's just that it doesn't end too well for him because to make sure that she sees the inside of ISS, he has to cut himself loose.
And that's precisely how Ryan, who at one point says that she chose to be in space because of the absolute silence there, ends up all alone up there in the stratosphere. It's true what they say about being careful what you wish for. The rest of the movie is about how she makes it back to Mother Earth.
Frankly, I am surprised that Clooney agreed to be part of this project and that Bullock is the main character of the movie. I devoured a sizable portion of my caramel popcorn trying to figure this mystery out. But if you leave that part out, the rest of the movie is fairly enjoyable. At least you don't have to worry about aliens out to colonize earth, macho man armed to the teeth fighting them till the very bitter end and earth's population dying of some mysterious flesh-eating disease of extra-terrestrial origin. Though at times you have to concentrate to be in sync with what Ryan is doing like e.g. to move from the ISS to the Chinese station, there is something fundamentally soothing about a movie that contains characters that can be counted using fingers of one hand only. No complex relationships, no ranks, no duets of emotions. Just a person's conversation with her own self - something that is increasingly becoming rare in this age. The irony of human life is that we all want to be left alone but we all want to be part of the crowd as well. The scene where Ryan tries to communicate with someone on earth whose transmission she is able to listen to just because of some technical glitch and whose language she cannot understand was for me the highlight of this movie. If I ever chance upon this movie on some TV channel in future, that's the scene I would like to watch again. That said, it's no surprise that the special effects are awesome in this 3D movie. You really feel as if you are in space.
Last but not the least, it is difficult to tear your eyes away from the planet that we call our Home. Earth is devastatingly beautiful - more so when seen from the infinite expanse of the space. Not many of us will be able to go where no one has gone before but this movie sure lets us take a peek at it while at the same time telling a story of someone who almost loses her will to live, only to regain it and fight back.
What's the plot then? We have Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a doctor + engineer, on her first shuttle mission. And then we have Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) (looking every bit American, not even an ounce of Russian! Maybe he is a Russian American) who, we are told, is not only an astronaut but also a very experienced one. This is his last voyage before he hangs his boots - and space helmet, Oxygen tank etc. There is one more astronaut who I believe is depicted as an Indian because he sings 'Mera Joota Hai Japani' while flying in circles as Ryan and Matt attempt some repair or other in space.
Of course, the 'big bad' Russians are at it again. This time they manage to blow some satellite or something like that (I can't be sure what because I was too busy gawking at the aqua blue globe of earth and munching on Caramel popcorn to pay attention to the dialogues). The point is that this sets off a chain reaction in which debris start flying through the space and Houston warns the astronauts that they better be indoors. Of course, Ryan being the pig-headed woman that she is (ain't this a stereotype?), refuses to immediately abandon whatever she is doing. By the time she does, it is already too late. The debris arrive on the scene and in the ensuing confusion, Ryan is set adrift in space. Matt manages to reel her back in but the singing Indian is already dead (did they really have to blow part of his face off?). Since the communication is knocked out of order, Houston is blissfully unaware of this space drama. Lucky them!
Matt and Ryan set the course for the International Space Station (ISS). To add more excitement to this space journey, Ryan is running out of Oxygen and running on fumes (perhaps more literally than figuratively!). When they reach the ISS, she fails to grab on to anything and Matt has to be the knight in the shining white armor again. It's just that it doesn't end too well for him because to make sure that she sees the inside of ISS, he has to cut himself loose.
And that's precisely how Ryan, who at one point says that she chose to be in space because of the absolute silence there, ends up all alone up there in the stratosphere. It's true what they say about being careful what you wish for. The rest of the movie is about how she makes it back to Mother Earth.
Frankly, I am surprised that Clooney agreed to be part of this project and that Bullock is the main character of the movie. I devoured a sizable portion of my caramel popcorn trying to figure this mystery out. But if you leave that part out, the rest of the movie is fairly enjoyable. At least you don't have to worry about aliens out to colonize earth, macho man armed to the teeth fighting them till the very bitter end and earth's population dying of some mysterious flesh-eating disease of extra-terrestrial origin. Though at times you have to concentrate to be in sync with what Ryan is doing like e.g. to move from the ISS to the Chinese station, there is something fundamentally soothing about a movie that contains characters that can be counted using fingers of one hand only. No complex relationships, no ranks, no duets of emotions. Just a person's conversation with her own self - something that is increasingly becoming rare in this age. The irony of human life is that we all want to be left alone but we all want to be part of the crowd as well. The scene where Ryan tries to communicate with someone on earth whose transmission she is able to listen to just because of some technical glitch and whose language she cannot understand was for me the highlight of this movie. If I ever chance upon this movie on some TV channel in future, that's the scene I would like to watch again. That said, it's no surprise that the special effects are awesome in this 3D movie. You really feel as if you are in space.
Last but not the least, it is difficult to tear your eyes away from the planet that we call our Home. Earth is devastatingly beautiful - more so when seen from the infinite expanse of the space. Not many of us will be able to go where no one has gone before but this movie sure lets us take a peek at it while at the same time telling a story of someone who almost loses her will to live, only to regain it and fight back.
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