Gravity
Directed by Alfonso Cuaron
Starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.
Backstory
I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with the space program, and like most kids, went through the phase where I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. But, we grow up, we move on, but the fascination with the space program remained. And in this day and age, realistic films about working in space are few and far between. So when I started seeing the trailers for Gravity, I was immediately intrigued. Is rescue in such a scenario even possible? How would one survive? Finally had a day to go see it. Would it be as amazing as the other reviews said?
Plot
The film opens on a routine servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. We quickly meet our two stars: Dr. Ryan Stone, a medical engineer and rookie astronaut who’s on her first mission, and Lt. Matt Kowalski, a veteran space cowboy who’ll be retiring after this final flight. But then, a freak accident creates a cloud of space debris that does critical damage to the space shuttle. Stone and Kowalski are separated from the shuttle, and find themselves drifting out of control. Cutoff from communications with Earth, hopelessly drifting through space, is there any way that Stone and Kowalski will be able to pull it together, survive, and get back down to Earth?
What I Liked
Holy moly, there’s so much to like in this film. I was afraid that, like most space movies, there’d be lots of loud explosions, but no! Like real space, there’s almost no sound. And the special effects are spectacular, fully realizing these spacecrafts I’ve seen on the news so often. But the most remarkable thing in the film is Sandra Bullock’s performance. So much of the film rests purely on Bullock, and she does an amazing job.
What I Didn’t Like
In order to make up for the silence of space, the score does get unbearably loud in some places. But that’s all I got.
Final Assessment
This is the first film I’ve ever seen where I was literally biting my nails wondering what was going to happen next. A remarkable film, a thrilling film, I’m having trouble coming up with words to say how good it is.