A
medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident
leaves them adrift in space.
Starring:
Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, and Ed Harris
Directed
by: Alfonso Cuaron
Written
by: Alfonso Cuaron, and Jonas Cuaron
Remember when you were a kid, and would
play on the monkey bars. Swinging from one side to the other. Swing, grab, and
hold! Swing, grab, and hold! Swing, grab, and hold! That was for fun, but what
if your life literally depended on it? Swing, miss, and hit the ground. Not this time! Swing, miss, and die!
The thing that stands out about “Gravity”
is how it brings out the fear of the situation. The crew is outside of the
shuttle working when debris comes flying at them at a rapid speed. There is no
time to lose, and no place to hide. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) gets detached,
and is set drifting in space. As the audience, just imagine being her space
boots. Spinning and spinning with nowhere to go. Imagine being stuck floating
in pitch-black space until your oxygen runs out. Now that is something to fear!
Fortunately for Ryan, Matt (George
Clooney) is wearing a pack that allows him to control where he’s going so he’s
able to recover her. However the pack doesn’t last forever, and it’s up to them
to get back on a shuttle that can take them to Earth. Now it’s monkey bar time.
They have to grab a hold of something, or face drifting off into space again.
This happens over and over again, and surprisingly remains effective. Why,
because the situation strikes fear in the audience, and they wouldn’t wish that
anyone (hopefully).
What adds to that fear is the stunning
visuals. They do an excellent job of making the audience feel like they are in
space along with the astronauts. It also helps when watching it on the big IMAX
screening that engulfs the audience in the darkness of space. When the debris
comes around and starts destroying everything in sight it almost makes the
audience want to duck for cover.
The movie moves at a great pace. Every
time it gives the astronauts, and audience a chance to breathe something else
goes wrong. The intensity quickly picks up again, as they fight for their
lives. Throw in some really ominous music playing in the background reminding
the audience it could be over with one missed opportunity to grab onto
something.
While watching the movie, the audience
is completely caught up in what’s happening. Looking back at it, of course
there are a lot of convenient moments. The debris happens to hit everything but
the astronauts. There happens to be enough shuttles within distance for them to
attach to. And of course the fact that they are actually able to swing, grab,
and hold so many times.
The beauty of “Gravity” is how it
creates such a gloomy situation. As soon as things go wrong, the audience
realizes just how scary it would be to actually have that happen to them. The
visuals, pace, intensity, and score of the movie keep the audience on the edge
of their seat. Yes, there are some convenient moments, but they won’t hit the
audience until after the fear goes away. With that, I give this movie 3.5 pools
of blood!
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