Sucked in by “Gravity”

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Written by Tyler Lamb. Media by Austin Stephens.

Gravity has been garnishing a lot of buzz lately. Whether it’s being the #1 movie in North America for the past 3 weekends in a row, or just simply having an amazing current percentage of 97 on rottentomatoes and 96 on metacritic, Gravity has been the center of attention for almost a month. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Great Expectations), the movie stars George Clooney (Batman & Robin, Return of the Killer Tomatoes!) and Sandra Bullock (All About Steve, Speed 2: Cruise Control, Premonition) as astronauts on a seemingly routine trip to fix something with a satellite. While finishing up, they are informed of an accidental destruction of a Russian satellite with debris orbiting faster than initially expected, and from this point on Murphy’s Law seems to take over for the rest of the movie.

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The film is beautiful. Well, for the most part. The shots of space itself, the Earth, stars, and even the majority of the shots of the destruction are just breathtaking. That being said, sometimes the CGI on Clooney and Bullock make them look like characters from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within or just having their head look like it isn’t attached to their body. Other than those awkward moments, the special effects are amazing. Also, the fact that the movie is nearly a 100% accurate depiction of what space would be like. Things like sound being there when there would be, sound not being there when there shouldn’t be, how something would react given no atmosphere and so on. Of course, there are still some things that make it a movie and not a documentary, but overall the attention to detail is great. Somehow, at the same time, it helps make events in the movie that much more stressful.

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Clooney does an amazing job in the movie from beginning to finish. He plays an older veteran astronaut who is on his last spacewalk. He is almost a complete opposite to that of Bullock’s character, and it works. Unfortunately, Bullock does not at times. She is on her first space mission and is not used to most of the things you have to deal with while in space. During most of the movie she does an amazing job in her role as well. However, there is a moment about halfway, right after everything hits the fan, she becomes very annoying. She constantly is complaining and whining about everything going on instead of trying to do something about it. Thankfully this didn’t last too long, and she does a great job closing out the film.

Really the majority of the greatness coming from this film is the cinematography. Shots are just plain beautiful, and you never feel like they are random or just the director wanting to show off special effects. Each shot is cohesive and is apart of the story all the way up to the end. Seeing it in 3D on the biggest IMAX screen you can really does help drive this home. The 3D adds great depth to the movie and helps immerse you even more, whereas the bigger screen just shows off the beauty even more.

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When it comes down to it, this movie is a decent thriller with amazing scenery and overall top notch acting. There were some moments near the end where I found myself rolling my eyes at some events, considering that really everything goes wrong, and also at some of the dialogue. However, that did not stop this movie from being a great theater experience. It may not be the best the year has yet to offer so far or to come–I mean, we still have American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street to come out–but it is better than most I’ve seen this year. It’s one that if you desire to see it you should make sure to see it in IMAX 3D. This isn’t a movie I would go out of my way to recommend to anyone, but if you desire to see it I would say go and do so as soon as you can.

3 hairy guys out of 4

3 COMMENTS

  1. Tyler, I have to disagree with you on your assessment of Bullock’s role and how she portrays her character. You wrote, “there is a moment about halfway, right after everything hits the fan, she becomes very annoying. She constantly is complaining and whining about everything going on instead of trying to do something about it. Thankfully this didn’t last too long.” I never saw her frustration, her sense of desperation, her huge sense of loss, or her sense of defeat as WHINING. I saw it as being REAL in an incredibly overwhelming and frightening experience. Just sayin’…

  2. Two astronauts floating in space – how could that possibly be a concept for one of the most riveting films I have ever seen, and be deserving of the adjectives mentioned in this review’s title? And yet Gravity is without doubt one of the most absorbing, don’t-look-away-can’t-look-away films I’ve seen for a long time. There are some films (good, entertaining films) that you just watch. Then there are those rare films which have the power to draw you in and make you forget you are WATCHING. Instead, you are EXPERIENCING. That’s Gravity. Apart from the astonishing, beautiful and epic scale of the film, with directorial and photographic moments reminiscent of David Lean and Stanley Kubrick, the original script will keep you guessing all the way to the final frame of film. Both actors give solid, convincing performances, but Sandra Bullock has finally been given a part capable of revealing her real talent. Her character has real depth, and (by some truly brilliant directorial techniques), you become completely empathic with her… and when a space film gets the seal of authenticity from ISS astronauts and NASA, it can’t be THAT bad!

    • I gave it a 3/4. How is that bad? That’s actually really good, I just didn’t think it was perfect. The script did not “keep me guessing all the way to the final frame”. The technical aspects were amazing(sound editing/mixing, soundtrack, cgi for the most part) but it’s a film I wouldn’t really want to watch outside of the 3D IMAX experience. Also, I did not find it to be as enthralling as you seem to think it was. That’s the beauty of opinions though, we all have our own.

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