While 2002 A Space Odyssey is rightly lauded for its ground breaking realism depicting space travel, Marooned is no slouch in the department either and has the advantage of being produced as man was really going to the moon for the first time.
The effects are excellent, not the level of Kubrick's epic film but more, if one can say this, down to earth. They are based on current NASA tech and design and the story of astronauts trapped in their capsule and slowly suffocating as mission command tried to find some way to help them. This film was still in release during the Apollo 13 mishap so what is shown was no hypothetical sci fi plot to viewers, it was really happening.
The cast is quite amazing, so many good actors giving very good performances and the entire production is treated with the gravitas it deserves considering men were very much risking their lives at the time. The whole thing reads as real life, including some heart breaking understated moments when the wife of one of the crew is given bad news.
As the situation in space gets worse, they are aided by soviet cosmonauts who have come to deliver oxygen as that is all the can do. A very hopeful message for the time.
At 134 minutes I did not find it slow moving, so some might. It was very well received but lost money on initial release and while it seems to be forgotten mostly It does not deserve to be.
