)
This documents the making of the international space station. Audiences will travel 220 miles above earth to experience the greatest engineering feat since landing a man on the moon. This is the story of the unique partnership of16 nations building a laboratory in outer space. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 07/31/2007 Starring: Narrated By Tom Cruise Run time: 47 minutes Rating: Nr
The partnership with NASA and IMAX films continues with a tour of the next step in space exploration: the International Space Station (ISS). Sixteen countries helped build this giant station (still being built upon the film's release in 2004). We see the first building blocks being constructed, including shots from inside the slick NASA shuttle launches to the friendly informalities of the Russian program. The crystal-clear pictures of the station and the Earth are the best aspects of this film. The entertaining footage delivers human elements, but sometimes the carefulness of experimentation makes for boring photography; a test of a super-cool jet pack has the astronaut moving mere inches. To the film's benefit, the narrator is Tom Cruise with a script tailored to his strong suits (the first line of "What an incredible sight!" is vintage Cruise). The film is also so light on its feet with a nice dose of music, including "Up on the Roof" and the Talking Heads "Naive Melody," that it makes up for the staginess of some of the scenes. The film was shown in 3-D in theaters but only 2-D for home video. --Doug Thomas
