GRAVITY

WIN

Gravity is a significant technical achievement. Partly fictional, partly realistic, this outer space thriller delivers screen after screen of dazzling and engaging images. There is an intimate feel to the interior environments of the man-made off-world habitats, with thoughtful touches to put a human mark in each place. There are spectacularly contiguous shots during the first part of the film, which help establish the pace of time (a particularly important element of the principal threat). And the catastrophic sequences unfolding in the vacuum beyond our world have the breathtaking backdrop of the earth in its many glorious shades.

The action commences fairly quickly, and this isn't a very long movie--so I won't dwell on the strictly linear plot. The goal is obvious: Get back to earth. The obstructions, however, are monumental and endless. At nearly every point along the destination something perilous happens. Murphy's law is the law in this universe. The worst possible problem appears in every situation. Returning to earth...it should be so simple. It's right there in plain view all the time; but nothing seems to go right at any point. The tension is persistent.

On the other hand, there are somewhat clumsy attempts to inject some emotional investment beyond what's necessary for the material. Some of the additional "feely" elements feel like gimmicks. Staying alive is enough of an incentive to make the protagonists' struggle believable. But more emotive threads are sewn into places that don't need patches. That being said, there is a particularly touching moment when one character realizes that death is imminent; the scene works brilliantly because, again, just the fight to stay alive is enough to carry the moment on its own merits.

Overall, because of the visual magnificence and the detailed attention to procedure and equipment in off-world emergencies, Gravity gets a WIN. The acting is precisely what you expect from Sandra Bullock and George Clooney; they manage to make even some campy (and uninteresting) opening conversation bearable. The directing by Alfonso Cuarón does not disappoint, even throwing in some fantastic realism (which happens to be one of my favorite genres). While the artistic aspect does not come through quite as well as the technical, the movie succeeds in what it offers: An intense science-fiction thrill-ride.

I recommend seeing this movie in IMAX 3D!

IMDb page:  Gravity

MPAA Rating:  PG-13 for intense perilous sequences, some disturbing images and brief strong language