Gravity

Cast of Characters:

Dr. Ryan Stone - Sandra Bullock

Matt Kowalski - George Clooney

Director - Alfonso Cuaron

Screenplay - Alfonso Cuaron & Jonas Cuaron

Rated PG-13 for intense perilous sequences, some disturbing images and brief strong language

      Academy Award winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney star in Oscar nominated director Alfonso Cuaron's space thriller Gravity. Did you know I wanted to be an astronaut when I was kid?

      And that is why I switched from wanting to be an astronaut to a fireman. Then I had to watch Backdraft, dammit! Biomedical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is on her first space shuttle mission, accompanied by veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), who is commanding his final space mission. During a spacewalk, debris from a satellite crashes into the space shuttle Explorer, destroying most of it and leaving them stranded in space with limited air. The debris continues to hit other satellites, causing a chain reaction of destruction until the satellites necessary for the two astronauts to communicate with Mission Control in Houston are also destroyed. 

      Following the destruction caused by the debris, which is orbiting Earth, Stone is separated from Kowalski. After they find each other, they make it their goal to locate the International Space Station (ISS) in order to make their way back safely to Earth. Even though they do not receive messages from Mission Control, both Kowalski and Stone continue to transmit "in the blind" to Mission Control, in the hopes that Mission Control can hear them.

      Director Alfonso Cuaron has been either on or off for me personally. I'm in the minority in that I didn't quite like Children of Men and A Little Princess was cheesy fluff (to be fair, it was solely for children). That said, I loved Y Tu Mama Tambien and I loved what he brought to the third installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (not only my favorite film of the series, but my favorite book of the series as well). No matter if he's on or off for, one thing I've never said about Cuaron is that he lacks a detailed visual style 'cause even when his films don't work for me, I'm still praising how gorgeous the film looks. Gravity is by far the best visuals in a film I've seen this year, hands down. Better than Oblivion, better than Iron Man 3, better than Man of Steel, and better than Elysium. You might not see better visuals the remainder of this year either consider we're past the blockbuster season, with the exception of the Christmas film season (that means, Peter Jackson, you better be bringing your A-game for The Hobbit sequel). This is visually jaw dropping right from the opening shot of seeing Earth orbit from space. About 98% of the film is set in space, and it's just an edge of your seat thrill ride from beginning to end. Cuaron really captures the grand, infinite scope of space in ways that are both beautiful and terrifying. It's really strong direction from him. He knows when to go all-out with the visual flare and when to hold back, and the thrilling moments never get too busy for the viewer and never get carried away. That's what makes Cuaron such a smart filmmaker. I can only imagine the eye-popping, ear-splitting, seizure inducing headache I would've received if this was Michael Bay behind the camera instead, throwing in an asteroid the size of Texas instead of satellite debris, maybe a couple of Transformers and, of course, BOOM!!!! EXPLOSIONS!!!! Both Bullock and Clooney are, for the most part, by themselves in the film. Clooney fits the part of the calm, cool, collected, sometimes wise-cracking veteran astronaut very well, and Bullock gives a performance that I believe could earn her Oscar consideration. Her character is the complete opposite of Clooney's Kowalski. She's straight-faced, by the books and a bit nervous about this being her first space mission. The more the story reveals about her bit by bit though, the more we not only see why she is the way she is, but also care about her more. I know a lot of people felt she didn't deserve the Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side (she wasn't my pick either, but even though I thought the film was okay, I believe her performance carried it), but she sure gives a hell of a performance that required a lot out of her physically.

       I've been a bit of a sucker for astronaut type movies (Apollo 13, The Right Stuff, Mission to Mars, Apollo 18... Whoa, wait a minute. How did those last two get in there?). My late Grandpa Ed worked for NASA for years, and I've always found what astronauts do to be awe inspiring and requiring big cojones. Even though I love a good sci-fi monster flick such as Alien, Predator or The Thing, Gravity is able to terrify viewers without the need for a monster (unless you count the deep, dark, impossible to live in, vastness of space as a monster). Sure, we've seen the "rookie's first day on the job with the seasoned veteran on his last mission" storyline a million times before. You know how it plays out. The shit's gonna hit the fan eventually. Just ask John McClane. I could care less though 'cause I loved this film. Between the Oscar level technical work, direction from Cuaron and Bullock's performance, this achieved what any great movie should set out to do: either entertain me, move me, humor me, thrill me and (or) frighten me. This film managed to do all. I give Gravity an A (★★★★).