Narrated by Tom Cruise. Directed and filmed in space by the astronauts of the International Space Station. Produced and directed by Toni Myers. In 3-D at Imax, Empire Bayers Lake. See the latest 3-D Imax film, Space Station, for sheer, mind-boggling spectacle. A room full of open-mouthed, gasping Nova Scotians wearing bug goggles is a sight not to be missed. And the movie’s pretty amazing, too. (NASA )...

By Lee Anne Gillan: At the Movies 

The Daily News

Space Station **** Narrated by Tom Cruise. Directed and filmed in space by the astronauts of the International Space Station. Produced and directed by Toni Myers. In 3-D at Imax, Empire Bayers Lake.

See the latest 3-D Imax film, Space Station, for sheer, mind-boggling spectacle. A room full of open-mouthed, gasping Nova Scotians wearing bug goggles is a sight not to be missed. And the movie’s pretty amazing, too.

During the building of the International Space Station — a joint construction project of 16 countries taking place 360 kilometres above the Earth — astronauts were supplied with special Imax cameras to record their daily life, and the Lego-like process of assembling the station.

Produced by Lockheed Martin and Imax, with the full co-operation of NASA, there’s no analysis here, and only a perfunctory, glossy version of the dangers and mistakes that haunt space travel. The project is boosterism, a giant ad for the space program, and as such, it’s pretty darn successful.

Films like this are what 3-D glasses and huge screens were invented for. The view outside the station, is, of course, mind-blowing and expansive, but the view inside is just as fascinating. The space station is, essentially, your dad’s garage. There are mysterious tools, strange containers and water bags strapped and stuffed into every available space.

The international flavour of the project isn’t quite reflected in the mostly American point of view of the film, and Tom Cruise’s rather heavy-handed narration doesn’t help, but there is something about seeing the Earth as it really is, without man-made borders or affiliations of any kind that makes the point of the film in a way that mere sound-bites about international co-operation can’t.

Space Station is full of astonishing, you-are-there moments — a slow, weightless climb up the side of the station, or debris and rocks flung in our face as a shuttle leaves Earth — but its simple moments are just as magical: like watching a shaving astronaut nonchalantly leave his razor hanging in mid-air as he lathers his face, or as another gets a haircut/ vacuum so the hair doesn’t float off into nooks and crannies. It’s fascinating observing the bobbing, floating dance crewmates perform as they move past each other in cramped quarters.

There’s an inexplicable feeling of freedom that comes with watching these men and women literally and figuratively float free of the world as we know it.

day-night@hfxnews.ca

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