I've just gotten back from a showing, I was very impressed. Here's my review and thoughts (forgive me it's rather long).
Don't read this if you're not looking for spoilers!
The movie starts off with a silent shot of Earth with the shuttle coming in first as an indiscreet point of light, then into the classic delta shape, then into full detail. This scene takes about 1-2 minutes and I thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of calm. It's pretty much the only calm moment in the movie. The mission is STS-157 with Space Shuttle Explorer, on a Hubble servicing mission and the ISS is only a few kilometers away. The mission also features a test flight of the MMU while the other astronauts are performing servicing work on the HST. The Chinese space station (even though it's called Tiangong in the movie, it's a future version of it), also happens to be not far away.
If you're completely bothered by the total ignoring of the proper orbital mechanics, like it's taking you completely out of the movie, think of it like this -- it's an alternate reality. Let's just say then that a identical twin of the Hubble (not unfeasible, seeing as HST is directly derived from spy satellites) was launched into the same plane as the ISS so that in the event of a failure during a servicing mission the shuttle could actually reach the ISS as a safe haven. Although I'll note the ODS is missing on the shuttle, which isn't surprising as the payload/mission a carbon-copy of STS-125.
Let's also assume then that the Chinese space station, Tiangong, was also launched and assembled in the same orbital plane to be docked to the ISS at a later date for a truly "International" space station. As unfeasible and utopian as that sounds, let's just go with that idea for the better part of this review. Even with this in mind, there is still gaps in logic with orbital mechanics and I ask for you to close your eyes when they happen if they truly bother you.
During a 3-manned EVA of the Hubble (Dr. Stone, Kowalski, and I missed the other guy's name), the Russians get the bright idea of shooting down a defunct satellite that happens to not be terribly far away from the shuttle. This causes a chain reaction with satellite collisions, knocking out several LEO satellites. Houston tells the three to return to the airlock and for the shuttle to begin an immediate attempt to return to KSC. Before the crew even gets inside the shuttle, the satellites impacts.
The other crew member is killed when a piece of the satellite goes through his visor (we later see the injury, rather gruesome). The arm detaches with Dr. Stone and hurls her off structure while the rest of the shuttle is completely destroyed by the satellite debris. Stone manages to detach and his hurled away from the arm, hyperventilating, and is rescued and calmed down by Kowalski with the MMU.
The pair return to see the state of the shuttle, the cabin is completely torn open and the entire crew has been killed from rapid depressurization of the vehicle. They then decide to move onto the ISS, which has been evacuated due to the impact. The other Soyuz parachutes were deployed from the impact, leaving it unable to re-enter.
Kowalski runs out of fuel, and the pair impact the ISS at a high speed and Stone is saved by the cords from the Soyuz parachute while Kowalski misses Stone's hand and is unable to be saved. Stone, suffering from C02 poisoning, begins to black out and is only able to move on while Kowalski, drifting away from the ISS, urges Stone to forget about him and save herself by getting into the Poisk airlock and into the ISS.
She manages her way into the crippled ISS only to find that she's lost contact with Kowalski and presumes him to have died. Stone only has a few minutes to leave the space station, as the debris will soon return on the next orbit to cause chaos. Shortly after that, a fire breaks loose in the Harmony module and spreads throughout the ISS. Stone is forced to abandon the ISS and move into the Soyuz and undock -- only to be snagged back by the deployed parachute and impacting the ISS.
Her next few attempts also meet with similar results. Eventually, she leaves the Soyuz in an Orlan suit and detaches the parachute from the Soyuz descent module. However, Stone is too late and the debris crash into the ISS again, completely destroying the structure and slamming the Soyuz into the solar panels, crippling her ability to get to the Tiangong space station.
Devastated by this, Stone accepts her death and begins to depressurize the Soyuz, only to see that Kowalski has, somehow, survived and has returned to her aid and tells Stone they can use the landing thrusters on the descent module to fire a brief burn to accelerate towards Tiangong.
However, Kowalski is only a hallucination and she quickly wakes up to halt the depressurization of the Soyuz with an idea. She detaches the servicing module and the docking module and fires a short burst towards the Tiangong. Tiangong however has also been seriously impacted by the satellites and has begun to lose altitude and re-enter. Stone leaves the Soyuz descent stage and uses a fire extinguisher to guide her track towards Tiangong.
She manages to undock the Shenzhou during re-entry and detaches the descent modules and ascent module (she's able to figure this out because the Shenzhou isn't radically different from the Soyuz, which she has piloted several times in simulators). She lands near an island in the water, and quickly sinks, while Houston and the Chinese radio to her with knowledge of her location and have sent rescue teams. Stone escapes through the Shenzhou hatch and strips from the Orlan suit. The final scene in the movie is her collapsing onto the beach, standing up, and walking away with knowledge of her rescue.
My final thoughts is that this is a well made movie. The orbital mechanics aren't great, but they're leaps ahead of the nonsense we saw in Armageddon and this may be the best space-related move I've seen in theaters. This movie is worth seeing in IMAX, perhaps not in 3D. If you're not disposed to hate Hollywood space thrillers from the get go, I think you'll enjoy this movie. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie and may even go see it again. It is well worth the hype.
Also fun fact: Ed Harris is the CAPCOM, marking his return to mission control!
9/10