Gravity (2013)

Space is an amazing thing.  From everything we know about it, and everything we don't.  It's vastness, it's eeriness, it's openness to create something that can or cannot be believed.  A playground that can be brought to life with a bit of imagination.  With the basic principals of what we know, we can still bend the rules.  We don't truthfully know what can be done in space.

And filmmakers have always come up with interesting ways to utilize it.   I've always been a fan of films that involve space.  The Alien series, Star Trek, Star Wars (Although 1-3 sucked and ruined 4-6 for me.  Please J.J. Abrams return my faith!), Spaceballs, etc.  I love sci-fi!  I love to be taken away from Earth and allowing my mind to be free.  Even if for only 2 hours.

And Gravity is something special.

We get no aliens, no laser guns, no warp drives.  What we do get is a tense thriller.  One that grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let go until the credits.  But even as a thriller, it still feels like a beautifully composed symphony.  Alfonso Cuarón has created something of pure beauty, but at the same time created something that will make you hold your breath in fear.

The film itself is rather simplistic.  Story wise anyways.  One persons struggle to stay alive.  We've seen it before in countless movies.  But this is something completely different.  How does one survive alone in space?  Floating in nothingness?  Surrounded by nothingness?  Yet home is in plain view.  So to speak.  With this we get to join Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) on her fight to survive.  Being stranded alone in space.

Now I mentioned beauty and fear in the same sentence earlier.  And this film does display both.  We get stunning views of space.  And special effects wise, it is absolutely incredible.  Everything looks so realistic that you can almost believe that it is real.  And that is where the fear comes in.  It feels too real.  And we feel for everything our lone survivor goes through.  The terror that she feels.  The hopelessness.

But with its story, it's truly how it is filmed that makes this something far better than it should.  I have seen many movies in 3-D and none of them compare to this.  The use of 3-D allows us to feel and believe that we are right with her in space.  And the bigger the screen you can see this on the better.  Space is big after all.  You just won't get the same experience on a 19" tv.  Sorry.

The score also feels like a character on it's own.  Almost like the villain.  It never makes you feel happy.  In fact it adds to the dread of the situation our heroine is going through.  From the sounds that she hears, to the music that is added throughout the devastation surrounding her.  It heightens our fears even more.

Now with the "bending of the rules".  This is not a film that is accurate.  Not by any means.  In fact it has many holes that even us laymen would see through.  But that was not the point of this film.  This was to entertain.  And Alfonso Cuarón knows this.  He choose space as his playground and knowing that he can do as he pleases, he succeeded.  I'm sure those from NASA had their beefs with this, but he wasn't making a documentary.  He wanted to bring us a film of fear and survival at it's more dire.

Recommendation : If you can see this in 3-D, you are in for a treat.  A small tv will also not give this film any justice.  And that is my only issue with it.  This is a movie that can only be really appreciated being viewed on a large screen.  And sadly, not all of us have one of them.

4 out of 5 for me.  (Yes, this is a new addition.)