Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first Shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky 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 of space. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.
This movie contains 14 potentially triggering events.
While in the Soyuz, Dr. Stone makes radio contact with an Inuit named Aningaaq, and they converse for a bit despite a language barrier, making a connection when she overhears his dogs on the radio. Aningaaq's words are not subtitled in English, but for his side of the conversation, he is speaking in his native tongue about one of his dogs being old and needing to be put down soon. The radio signal cuts out without any evidence of dog death, but in a short film tie-in showing the conversation from the other side, we hear a gunshot at the very end.
At one point the main character has a hallucination or vision while oxygen-deprived which is filmed as if it is actually happening until shortly before she wakes up and discovers it wasn't real.
Very early in the movie one of the astronauts in the background is hit by a piece of shrapnel. Shortly afterwards you see the body up close and they have a gaping hole in their face.
Not during the story, but the main character talks about how she's still mourning the death of her daughter which happened at a point before the story started.
Only One effective Jump Scare in this film to watch out for
Total Jump Scare count: 1 (1 MAJOR)
MAJOR JUMP SCARES IN CAPITAL LETTERS
(MAJOR) (22:31) (WHEN RYAN ENTERS INTO THE SPACESHIP, SHE SUDDENLY BUMPS INTO A FLOATING BODY ACCOMPIANED BY INTENSE AUDIO)
In the beginning, there are a couple references to Sandra Bullock’s character being sick and queasy from her first time in space, but she never vomits.
At one point, the main character despairs of her situation and attempts suicide by shutting off her oxygen supply. She changes her mind in time to restore the oxygen and survive.
None within the film but director Alfonso Cuaron is pro-Autism Speaks and has made propaganda for them before. He has also made the hateful statement that Autism can be “cured” (what ABA intends to do) through herbs, prayer, and voodoo.
[SPOILERS, though it’s early in the movie] Matt sacrifices himself. He pushes Ryan towards the shuttle, pushing himself out into open space, knowing it will result in his death. He then dies off-camera when his oxygen runs out.
Near the very beginning of the movie, an astronaut in the background is hit with shrapnel. That isn’t graphic, but later when you see the body closer up you see a gaping hole in the person’s face.