Outer space can be terrifying if you think about it. The vast empty void that lay beyond our atmosphere, the enormity of the nothingness that separates Earth from the rest of the universe, can cause some serious existential dread if you let it. And that's why there exist movies about people being marooned in space. The most famous of them is the acclaimed "based on a true story" flick Apollo 13, but if the reviews are any indication the new movie Gravity could give it a run for its money. The trailers looked fantastic and critics are calling it one of the best movies of the year, and now that I've seen it, I have to agree. Gravity is a friggin' amazing movie.
The movie quickly introduces us to Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a rookie astronaut tasked with repairing the Hubble telescope on her first mission into space. But while veteran crew member Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) tries calming her nerves with silly tales of his ribald youth, being outside the shuttle has turned Dr. Stone into a bundle of nerves.
Her situation quickly gets worse when they're informed a growing debris field from a destroyed Russian satellite is heading their way at a high rate of speed. Kowalski and Stone are unable to get back to their shuttle in time and are caught up in a storm of wreckage, with Stone getting separated from her safety rigging and thrown into deep space. Kowalski is just barely able to catch up with her, but with their shuttle damaged and their crew dead, Kowalski and a panicky Dr. Stone are forced to float sixty miles to the evacuated International Space Station and find a way back to Earth before their dwindling oxygen reserves completely give out.
I entered the theater thinking that Gravity would be just a simple thriller with a pair of A-list actors and too much hype. However, I left it feeling that I'd honestly seen one of the best movies of 2013. It's beautifully crafted and unbearably tense, the stillness and silence of space contrasting with the destruction and the soul-crushing terror that consumes the characters as they're faced with the idea of dying out in that endless emptiness. Gravity is a captivating movie that I just couldn't turn away from.
Gravity ends the seven-year hiatus of filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, and if he'd gotten rusty in that time, this movie shows no signs of it. He's crafted the movie beautifully, using the backdrop of Earth and an endless sea of stars to build something that is equal parts exquisite and frightening, Cuarón makes excellent use of long, unbroken shots that allow things to build and draw the viewer into the vastness of where we are and what's happening, which when combined with the movie's wonderful cinematography and excellent special effects allow the movie's tension to be really ramped up. The occasional instance of first-person camera angles that put us in the shoes of Sandra Bullock's character make things even more harrowing, as it puts us in her shoes and makes us see this nightmare from her eyes.
Cuarón matches his excellent visual with some absolutely astounding sound design. Sound design isn't really something I talk about much in my reviews, but it's worth noting in regards to Gravity. For much of the movie, there is practically no sound, just dialogue and Steven Price's fantastic music. This sound deprivation hammers home the isolation of outer space, how off-putting this territory is, and when combined with Cuarón's direction, it makes Gravity that much more effective.
Speaking of effective, any discussion about Gravity certainly must mention the movie's 3D effects. Many people, including myself, have often said that 3D is just a gimmick, a fun little thing that only really serves as a way of throwing things at the audience and making a few extra bucks with premiums added to box office ticket prices. I prefer my 3D as the silly "throw stuff at the audience" stuff and have always thought the idea of filmmakers using it as some kind of storytelling tool was something pretentious at best. But Gravity actually adds a little weight to that idea by boasting some of the most immersive 3D I've seen in a long time.
The year that's been 2013 has seen one lackluster usage of 3D after another, but Gravity is their polar opposite. It adds to the immensity of their surroundings and the scope of the emptiness around the characters. Things feel larger than life, like Cuarón has actually collected the audience and sent them into orbit with the characters. It's a rare movie that can honestly say that 3D makes the movie better, but Gravity is one of them.
The movie is also helped by the great performances from its two actors. George Clooney is charming and likable in his role, playing it with a confidence that befits his character. However, and this is where I'll briefly venture into spoiler territory, Clooney is only around for the first half hour of the movie and one scene near the end. This leaves Sandra Bullock alone for much of the movie, a task that some actors and actresses might not be up to. Not everybody could do a movie where they're by themselves for the majority of the movie and be successful in doing so, but Bullock more than succeeds in carrying things.
A lot of critics have gone as far as to say Bullock might win or at least be nominated for her second Oscar for Gravity, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit of that happened. Bullock puts forth a commanding performance here, approaching the character believably. She acts the same way I probably would if I were in the same predicament, running the gamut of emotions from panicky to outright terrified to nearly suicidal and all points in between. The story goes that Angelina Jolie was up for the role in 2010 while the movie was being developed, with Marion Cotillard, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johannson, and Blake Lively all supposedly in talks after Jolie left the project to write and direct her movie In the Land of Blood and Honey. I'm glad Bullock ended up being hired, though, because I honestly couldn't imagine those other actresses playing the part quite as well as her. As good as Cuarón's direction is, Bullock elevates the movie just that much more.
And since I usually end up talking about a movie's writing, I'll just come out and say that the script for Gravity does not matter in the slightest. Written by Cuarón and his son Jonás, the script is secondary to everything else in the movie. I'm not saying the Cuaróns' writing is awful, since there are a handful of quiet, more serene moments where the writing is superb; I'm just saying that story doesn't always matter when the majority of your movie is about one astronaut stuck in orbit. The Cuaróns could have just rewritten the movie Open Water, changing the sharks to orbital wreckage and the sea to outer space, and I don't know if anyone would have noticed.
But that's really the only drawback to an otherwise fantastic movie. I haven't seen many movies this year that I would call truly awesome, but Gravity is definitely on that short list. It's one of those rare flicks that work on multiple levels, and is brilliant on all of them. So if you're one of those poor souls that have yet to see Gravity, please take the time to see it theatrically and in 3D because it's worth it. And to tell you the truth, I'm almost glad there are no IMAX theaters near me. If I'd seen this movie in IMAX 3D, my head probably would have exploded.
Final Rating: ****½
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