Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first Shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk,...
Space, the endless emptiness that holds many wonders and anomalies. It's been the setting for hundreds of movies through the years. In fact many masterpieces have been set in space: Stanley Kubrick's ground breaking 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ridley Scott's terrifying Alien and Pixar's animated feature Wall-E. Then came 2013, a year that seemed to be full of standard summer blockbusters and a few indie films...just like any other year. But in the fall, critics went crazy. "Nothing could ever beat Avatar, visually" they all said, including myself...but i was wrong. The behemoth that took the cinema by storm came out...Gravity. I remember being so excited going to the cinema to watch this, I went on release day with my family. After the film finished, I was on the edge of my seat...sweating with my eyes widened at what I just saw. From that moment, I knew this was the greatest thing I ever watched.
For a film that consists of essentially 4 actors (3 of them on screen and 1 voice actor), I was completely engaged and convinced that I was with those characters. Sandra Bullock was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for her role but it was tough year and unfortunately did not win, but the nomination alone just shows how incredible she was. George Clooney was witty, comedic and re-assuring as the most experienced astronaut in the group. The chemistry between Bullock and Clooney was brilliant, given the circumstance of what happens during the film. This overall however is Bullock's film, she has the most screen time and has to convey the emotions of what she is going through by herself...and also inform the viewers what is happening etc.
Alfonso Cuarón, who also directed the underrated Children of Men, takes directing duties for Gravity and is absolutely outstanding. I mean the first shot of the film is all one take and goes on for 10 minutes. The man is a genius when it comes to controlling the camera, so many great one take shots which just shows the confidence he has in order to pull them off. He balances the dialogue with the thrills perfectly so that it never becomes boring. The fact he won the Oscar for best director just proves all of this. Emmanuel Lubezki is the cinematographer and also won the Oscar for best cinematography for this movie (deservedly so!). There is also one scene where the camera moves slowly towards bullock's character and then (still in the same shot) goes through her helmet to see her point-of-view...it's just genius. Cuarón also wrote the script with his brother, and managed to bring in emotion, courage and humour within the 91 minute runtime.
In space, you cannot hear anything. Gravity does something very clever in which we hear the sounds of space through the space suits, so if a character touches something that is shaking we as the viewers hear the reverb through the suit. It's this kind of sound editing that makes this an enthralling experience, especially when viewing with surround sound. Steven Price is the composer and also won the Oscar for original score. The soundtrack to this film is masterful, in fact one scene towards the end is so epic because of the composition behind it...really gets your heart racing.
The star of the film however are the visual effects, never has space looked so good! The detail of Earth in the background and the sun shining in the distance is breathtaking. Even during scenes of intense explosions with pieces of metal flying around, it's just sublime to look at. The way they filmed this was to have Bullock and Clooney in an LED light box and then add the visual effects in after (all done by a British team of visual effect experts). This is one of the few films designed for 3D viewing and I can honestly say it is on par with Avatar for best 3D effects. The ultimate way to view this film is in 3D so if you get the chance, don't blink twice...just watch it!
What else is there to say? Gravity is my favourite film of all time, everyone who knows me knows that I adore this film, I physically cannot find a flaw. It's a masterpiece. Unfortunately it's a film that a lot of people like to hate and sure everyone has their opinions, but hating a film just because it's highly rated is not an excuse. So if you haven't seen Gravity, go out to the shop, but the 3D Blu-ray, but a massive TV with surround sound and enjoy it. No thanks necessary, you are all very welcome!
