Let me kick off this review by saying I now have no desire to hang out in space. This film adequately reminded me of how dark, cold, and unforgiving space really is. I’ll stick to Earth, while she’s still around, ha. As far as the plot, since this will be fairly spoiler free, it deals with several astronauts hard at work repairing part of the Hubble telescope. Everything seems fine for all involved, and then a hearty dose of chaos ensues. This is a beautiful, yet terrifying experience to watch these events unfold, so hats off to director Alfonso Cuaron for crafting such an intense experience from beginning to end.
Now this is a film that has garnered some pretty outstanding praise since its release a week ago. The hype machine is alive and well with Gravity, but my concern before seeing it was is it worthy of such accolades? It’s not a masterpiece per say, but what really constitutes a masterpiece? Either way, this is a great film, make no mistake about it. The plot, as I alluded to, is fairly basic, the characters don’t have any elaborate back stories, and the running time is a very brisk 90 minutes. However, the film did affect me in several ways, and that’s always the mark of a well made film, one that leaves you with varying degrees of emotion as you walk out of the theater.
So what did I love about this movie? Sandra Bullock’s performance for starters. She did one hell of a job portraying a character named Ryan Stone, a medical engineer astronaut no less, that’s scared out of her mind as she’s forced into undeniably extreme circumstances. There’s one particular scene as hysteria is setting in for her, and she pretty well loses control of her emotions feeling as if she’s going to die. For my money, that scene defines the greatness of her work in this film. Heck, even George Clooney was convincing as the astronaut pilot Matt Kowalski, (I had my concerns with two big name actors being cast in this type of film) who is a morale boosting, happy go lucky kinda guy that serves to help keep the confidence and faith up for Stone as the plot progresses. Additionally, the visual effects should serve to blow you away, as should the realism of the sound effects mix. There were moments I almost felt like I was in a spacesuit, getting hurled around the stars! And this was just at a 2D screening, not 3d or Imax, that’s how incredibly real everything looked.
Last but not least, what really made this a home run for me was how it made me feel. There are intimate themes within this movie that deal with morality, and the human condition to sometimes want to give up, just when times are at their bleakest. I literally walked out of this film feeling as if I received a serious reminder as to just how precious life really is. That may sound cheesy to some, but I implore you to go see Gravity as soon as possible (if you haven’t already), and feel free to comment below if it had a similar effect on your own psyche. Thanks for reading.
4 out of 4 stars
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