About The Movie:
Gravity tells the harrowing account
of specialist Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a scientist-turned-fledgling
astronaut working on a space station that is suddenly obliterated by an
onslaught of space debris. In the midst of the calamity Ryan is thrown “off
structure” and into vastness of space, with only veteran astronaut Matt
Kowalski (George Clooney) still able to hear her cries for help.
What follows next is a
step-by-meticulous-step bid for survival in the harsh realm of the cosmos, as
Ryan must not only best physical obstacles, but also the mental/spiritual
obstacles standing between her and the will to survive.
What Is Good/Bad About The Movie:
With its mind-boggling visuals and
commitment to the authentic experience of outer space (no sound, no gravity, no
oxygen), Gravity is genuinely unlike any film you've ever seen before. But its
story, from a script written by director Alfonso Cuaron with his son Jonas, is
deliberately, sometimes clangingly familiar. You've got one astronaut Matt
Kowalski (George Clooney), a wisecracking veteran on his final spacewalk. And
you've got the rookie Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a brilliant and
strong-willed scientist who's understandably nauseous on her first trip into
orbit. This odd couple pair has met disaster in countless types of movies for
the last century, but this time it happens to be in space, when a Russian
satellite is hit by a missile and the debris comes flying at them at thousands
of miles an hour. In space, nobody can help you dodge shrapnel.
The lauded 10-minute unbroken shot
that opens the film is mesmerizing and thrilling, and leads into the first
action sequence, as Stone and Kowalski survive the debris field and manage to
regroup themselves while overcoming problems that just don't exist on earth,
like the fact that once you start spinning in space, there's no way to stop
yourself. As Cuaron's camera slips magically inside Stone's helmet and back out
into the distance of space, the visceral experience of the film becomes almost
unbearable; the action sequences of Gravity are designed like a thrill ride,
wringing maximum physical response from the audience, and it's an insanely
well-calibrated ride at that. When Stone and Kowalski finally have a chance to
catch their breath, you may only then realize you've been holding yours as
well.
When the film takes the time to
develop the characters, allowing Stone to talk about her young daughter's death
and Kowalski (Clooney essentially just playing himself in a spacesuit) to talk
her through the ordeal, the lighter moments tend to work better than the
heavier stuff near the end. Sandra Bullock's resolutely physical, ferocious
performance often says more concisely everything the script stumbles in saying
out loud, and many of the film's best emotional moments-- like her one-sided
communication with amateur radio operator back on Earth-- are nearly wordless.
The gambit of having the astronauts communicate with "Houston in the
blind" allows the characters to narrate essential technical parts of the
action, but at several key moments the script doesn't know to step back-- that
Bullock's face and grim determination to survive say it all.
With its deliberately archetypal
characters and occasionally chewy dialogue Gravity feels like a film James
Cameron would be lucky to make--an enormous compliment for this technically
brilliant, unerringly entertaining thriller. Your mileage may vary on the
film's more spiritual elements, but Gravity will make you believe in the higher
power of movies, of the transformation that happens in a dark room with a giant
screen and a story set in a place you couldn't possibly imagine. See it in IMAX
and in 3D and any other way that allows you to block out the rest of the world.
Gravity is movie heaven.
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