I have heard this movie recommended before (even by The Drinker) and have seen it referenced in various video essays so I figured I would rent it and give it a watch.

Well, I didn't like it. In fact, for the last 20+ minutes, I was just hoping it would finally end.

Whatever those other reviewers saw, I just didn't. They talked about "interesting, thoughtful ideas" but I don't really recall any of those being discussed or demonstrated. The movie does look very nice, so they are right about that point.

I quickly get annoyed when the core obstacle in the plot is "existential threat requires a desperate long shot to save the world" but you don't get "the best of best" but barely stable jerks who are good in their professions but bad at everything else (I am reminded of a character from "Death's End"). Nothing like one guy attacking another since he hogged the radio too long for him to send a final message home (an understandable frustration, for sure, but "the best of the best" wouldn't get violent over that). Then some woman sees the fight and asks someone else to come help since their is "too much manliness in the room". Ugggghhhhhh.... Out of the 3 people in this situation, they all seem like idiots.

Don't get me started on how many pointless risks and emotional decisions the crew makes along the way. You aren't convincing me that this is important.

By all means, fulfill your mission and crash into the sun.... and don't bother with the return trip.

Then, the horrible science and way that everything seems to be designed to require as much manual intervention as possible left me genuinely confused at many points (lots of "where are you going and why?").

Why does the computer system destroy itself if not perfectly cooled (even consumer systems tend to just shut off in that case)?

Why is the computer "coolant" actually incredibly "cold" and not just a fluid thermal mass (like all other actual coolants)? Sure, it _could_ be like that for some reason (computers do seem to be getting worse as time goes forward - but that wasn't true in 2007) and I am sure that it has terrible conductive properties since the air in the room seems fine (which means it would be a terrible coolant).

Why is space so cold? Yes, I know that the vacuum is something like 2 Kelvin but that is only when you can find a particle to measure. The actual vacuum has no temperature since it has no mass. In fact, you are more likely to overheat from your own mitochondria than freeze, in a vacuum (and then your dead body would freeze over the next few weeks).

Why can the air pressure in a spacecraft tear apart steel doors as it rushes through a small hole?

This is all ignoring the bad science of the problem with the star and their "big fission bomb" solution - which are both just nonsense.

Of course, the last third of the movie turning into a terrible slasher flick made absolutely no sense. It reminded me of the last third of Event Horizon, except that movie was designed to be like that and it was shot better (not my interest but I could imagine others liking it). Camera work making the slasher hard to see just annoys me since this is supposed to be a visual medium and I can't tell what is happening.

I don't understand what I am missing since reviewers always talk about these "interesting ideas" and "a thoughtful movie" when I just saw emotional idiots screwing things up and then getting killed for some reason.

Maybe I missed something at the beginning, or something,
...Nights