Salyut-7

This dramatization of what is essentially the Russian equivalent to "Apollo 13" is one of the best real life space 'adventures' made. Excellent production qualities, good script and acting and completely plausible effects. As a thriller, it's drier than "Gravity", but fans of "Apollo 13" should be very pleased and satisfied. Edit: I started writing this about half-way through. When the movie finished I upped the rating another notch, even as the god-awful credits song was playing. My only criticism is that whoever chose the music was selling something else.

Being am American space geekette all my life, I was understandably drawn to the movie "Salyut-7". Let me start with my overall opinion of this production and then the why's.

Ready?

Outstanding Entertainment.

Make no mistake, this is a dramatized story of the events surrounding the rescue of the Salyut-7 research station after it became unstable and threatened Earth with an uncontrolled ballistic re-entry. It is NOT a documentary by any means of the imagination. This said, please note that the special effects are top notch and show a love of both reproduction the rugged dependability of Russian Space hardware as well as a keeping up with the Jones quality in the overall visual effects in both the captured directly to film footage and the post processing CGI effects. Kudos are well deserved.

The story is delivered in a tightly scripted yet dramatic setting replete with humor and situational challenges to be conquered as if planned on a clipboard checklist. This tone and story telling technique is apparent from the beginning of the movie and it prepares the viewer for a climatic ride where you are indirectly warned to just suspend your disbelief and to just hang on. Once you realize this is not a testament to the brave cosmonauts of the Soviet Space program nor a history of the role that the Salyut-7 research station played in the Soviet pride, it seems that you are invited into the tale being told.

This is a fictional story about men who fly into space and perform their assigned tasks with grit and determination. The classic well trained, stoic cosmonaut is missing from this story replaced by a very human repair crew.

The story is not as absurd as that presented in "Gravity" or so over the top as in "Apollo 13" yet you feel the drama build as each step in bringing the station back to life is met with the inevitable challenges of cold, water moisture, frustrating electronic components, failed servo-motors & sensors, EVAs and seemingly impossible to repair damage. fire and stress. All these challenges are conquered in turn as a cold war of decisions takes place at central space command including some terrifying consequences from the earlier events put to rest.

The crew is made more human with unusual flashbacks into their marriages and estranged relationships with contrived dialog moments, but the acting itself shows the love between these men and their lives with their families on Earth.

Decisions are made, the impossible becomes possible and you are left with a pleasant reminder that ingenuity does conquer all.

Asking for more from this film will simply frustrate you. Simply enjoy the ride.

This movie really was surprising.The special effects(better than "Gravity" in my opinion),the accuracy of portraying the technology of the time,the soundtrack,the camera work.It's a space- thriller inspired by real events (you can search the mission soyuz t13 or look for documentaries about the salyut 7 to find out that very few moments were actually modified).Unlike the movie "Gravity" physics are respected,so it's spectacular but has that "apollo 13" feeling (with less cheesy moments or fake dialogues),except for the first 20 minutes we spend the rest of the time in space with the cosmonauts trying to repair the salyut 7 and survive to all the unexpected problems.I was never bored until the end.Some people say that the movie has propaganda,not true ,like in a lot of American movies cosmonauts and scientist are the good guys and generals want to save their reputation and the reputation of the country ,it's a pattern we have seen in a lot of Hollywood movies.The movie shows respect to all space heroes ,even the American astronauts and the shuttle program in a particular moment.If you liked  "Apollo 13","The Martian","Interstellar","Gravity" you will love this movie,it feels and looks more real (some scenes are actually filmed for real like the breathtaking launch sequence).All actors are good and human.I hope the bluray will also be released in 3d (in Russia it was an IMAX 3d release). I give it a 8,5.

After watching Salyut-7 which I found well made, well acted, human and tense, I wanted to know the true story. For that, I credit Nickolai Belakovski for his article "The little-known Soviet mission to rescue a dead space station" which can be found on the Ars Technica website. Suffice it to say, Salyut-7 is very much a work of fiction and, to be fair, was not intended to be taken as a true depiction of events.

As far as any shuttle mission to grab Salyut-7, it's complete hogwash despite there being a Russian documentary that promotes US efforts to steal the station. Bart Hendrickx wrote the article "Kidnapping a Soviet space station" for The Space Review website. It debunks the Russian conspiracy theory quite convincingly.

Enjoy the movie but don't rely on it for truth.

Saw it yesterday in local cinema, in OV. Only one presentation, ever. ^^ OK, the hall was filled half, but the movie was really great, Russian can do this kind of movies very well, very exciting until the last second! The acting was very well, camera too, pictures are great, especially the launch, breathtaking! Worth to see, I hope it will be relased in some other languages, at least with subtitles.