‘GRAVITY’ – 3..2..1….. LIFT OFFFFFFF!

Cheers to ‘GRAVITY’ director Alfonso Cuarón for giving us a more affordable route to zero gravity than a spaceflight on Virgin Galactic!
 

This jet-fueled movie begins with two astronauts, played by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, completing repairs to a space station. Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock) is a medical engineer on her first mission, and Matt Kowalsky (Clooney) is a veteran astronaut completing his last. Suddenly, Mission Control aborts the operation and informs them a Russian satellite test created massive propelling debris that is heading their direction.
 

 
With a fairly succinct script and dazzling, sometimes dizzying effects,’GRAVITY‘ doesn’t seem like it would need to showcase strong acting. Yet, Bullock’s performance is powerful, and it’s most amazing during her soliloquy when her character accepts that she will not return to Earth. She says, “I’m gonna die. We’re all gonna die, but the funny thing is, I KNOW I’m gonna die- TODAY.” While delivering the lines, her facial expressions morph from declaration to absolute fear, as her character starts to digest this reality. It’s brilliant acting. Clooney’s portrayal of his character provides a perfect foil to Dr. Stone’s story in the few scenes they are together.

Warner Bros. uses this A-list duo to pull an audience in to this film, but within minutes of the opening credits, a viewer realises Bullock and Clooney are not the movie’s biggest stars. Sound, cinematography and dimension (if you are lucky enough to see the film in its 3-D format) make ‘GRAVITY‘ truly ground-breaking.

Sound, either through effects or music, plays through nearly the entire length of the film. Cuarón’s abrupt use of sustained silence during key scenes serves to magnify the helpless, empty feeling a person would have while drifting in outer space with no means to course correct. Paired with the beautiful, mystic images of Earth, a viewer can be lost in suspension of disbelief. That is, unless you are an astrophysicist like Neil deGrasse Tyson.
 

 
Days after the film’s #1 debut at the American box office, Tyson launched nearly 10 Twitter missiles aimed at showing how the movie is scientifically flawed. To be honest, I really don’t care that the debris floated from east to west (and not vice-versa) or that Bullock’s hair didn’t stand up in zero gravity scenes. What I found enjoyable was the exquisite digital images and the spot on editing that created the closest simulation to weightlessness that I’ll ever voluntarily achieve.

Yes, there are plot elements that do stretch beyond the plausible. It’s a science fiction thriller, not a documentary. However, if you allow yourself to have fun and transcend into Dr. Stone’s perilous adventure, this movie could give you a 90-minute out of body experience. Further, it’s well suited for all ages and types.
 

For a truly uplifting experience, see ‘GRAVITY‘. As Dr. Stone exclaims during the movie, it’s “one hell of a ride!”
 

‘GRAVITY‘ is out now in the U.S. and it will be released in the UK on the 8th November, 2013!