Visually it's by far one of the most impressive movies I've seen in a while, not even because of the special effects (which are great btw) but because of the camera work. Children Of Men already showed Cuaron has a knack for great camera work but this was on another level. A lot of wanna-be film makers will be humbled by this shyt.
The story itself is basic though but that's no surprise. It tries to pass for a blockbuster but in terms of scale it's much more compressed and focuses mostly on the scientific element of surviving in space. In the second half it turns more into a metaphor for rebirth as Bullock's character gathers a newfound will to live, and some of the spiritual imagery was a bit too blatant and unsubtle for me.
Another thing that stood out to me was how they made a big deal of staying true to the fact there's no sound in space, but they went overdrive with the music, especially by putting loud musical cues over the crash/explosion scenes, probably to compensate for the lack of sound, but it felt more like overcompensating which took away the point of not having any sound.
Overall I'd give it a 4/5 because these issues don't really detract from the experience, but it's still a shame they missed the opportunity to really make the end-all of science non-fiction (!) space movies (because regardless of what so many reviews claim, it isn't).
