GRAVITY (9.5 out of 10) – Starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, and featuring the voice of Ed Harris; rated PG-13 (intense perilous sequences, some disturbing images and brief strong language); in general release, showing in either the 2D, 3D or 3D IMAX formats (in select locations); running time: 90 minutes.
“Gravity” has real weight to it, much like the fundamental physical force that shares its name.
This science-fiction/thriller not only satisfies on nearly every level of filmmaking, it does so while being a filmed entertainment. It’s brilliant, both in terms of technical and story accomplishments, yet succeeds at being a believable, plausible sci-fi survival tale. Filled with human drama, breathtaking action and suspense and some fleeting moments of light humor, it’s emotionally and physically exhausting – and emotionally and physically satisfying – big-screen experience.
And it marks the long-awaited return of Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón – the visionary who was responsible for the cult-favorite, 2006 science-fiction thriller “Children of Men,” as well as 2004’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” the critically acclaimed third movie in the ultra-successful series of J.K. Rowling adaptations. Like both of those films, this one definitely has its share of dark and disturbing moments.
In fact, this is not a movie for the squeamish or the easily disturbed. There’s a great deal of footage and imagery that convincingly simulate (at least what we think) what it’s like to be in space. Some motion sickness may ensue. (Along with requisite 3D glasses, theaters paper bags that double as either barf bags for motion-sick audience members, or for hyperventilating ones.)
“Gravity” not only has a deceptively simple title, it’s also a deceptively simple tale. A handful of NASA astronauts are seemingly routine mission to repair some malfunctioning equipment. As it turns out, Mission Commander Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) has good reason to have “a bad feeling” about the seemingly easy maintenance mission. The Russians have fired off a missile at a malfunctioning spy satellite (one of theirs), which has created deadly shrapnel.
The first blast from this heavily damages the Space Shuttle Explorer, and puts the two survivors – Kowalsky and Mission Specialist Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock). In fact, things look pretty grim for Stone, a civilian medical engineer who’s part of a larger mission. She’s has been knocked clear of the space station and now appears to floating away from any and all rescue efforts.
In all likelihood, she’ll die by ice or fire: either left to freeze as she begins to assume a deadly orbit around Earth, or left to burn up upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. That is, unless Kowalsky can find a way to catch up to his rapidly spinning fellow astronaut, and unless the two of them can somehow manage to contact Mission Control in Houston. (Satellite communications have also been knocked out by the errant Russian missile attack.)
While there are a handful of actors involved (a few of them mostly heard but not seen), this is pretty much a two-person show. Clooney shows off his usual charm and good-natured humor as a veteran, somewhat sarcastic astronaut, while Bullock is left to do a lot of heavy lifting, figuratively. Through body language and minimal dialogue, she has to convey the terrible isolation and loneliness of being marooned in space.
However, that’s not meant to slight Clooney, whose contributions are very necessary to the movie, obviously. And there’s a neat tip of the hat to seemingly forgotten astronaut survival tale, Ron Howard’s 1995 film “Apollo 13,” as one of the cast members from that film also shows up here: Ed Harris, who’s heard but not seen as the voice of Mission Control.
It’s clear that Cuarón and co-screenwriter, his son, Jonás, put in considerable time researching studying space missions — to make things look and sound as accurate as possible. The elder Cuarón also made a really risky move to in eschewing traditional Hollywood movie sound effects. There’s minimal sound here, aside from occasional breathing and scattered transmissions between the astronauts and Mission Control. That really helps reinforce the idea that these astronauts could die all alone in an unfriendly space.
(Unfortunately, English composer Steven Price’s intrusive music does try to underscore a few of the more intense and/or emotional moments. But that’s a minor quibble.)
Cuarón’s filmmaking crews deserve much of the praise as well, especially cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who has to work around the tricky virtual and organic set pieces, and the various special effect houses. If this film doesn’t win the Best Visual Effects Oscar next year, it’ll be an upset of epic proportions.
(While we’ve yet to see the second “Hobbit,” it’s extremely unlikely that it, “Iron Man 3,” or any other 2013 films can compare to this film’s break taking, mind-blowing imagery and action sequences, which are thrilling to the point of being nearly suffocating. In fact, it’s a good thing the movie runs a relatively scant 91 minutes, or theaters might also need to keep defibrillators on hand.)
One recommendation: See the film in 3D if at all possible – or better yet, in 3D IMAX or a comparable 3D showing in the 70mm format. Unlike recent, coverted-3D experiences such as “The Wolverine,” this film was actually shot using format-specific cameras, and Cuarón doesn’t use the format to simply throw space debris at viewers. Rather, he uses it to show just vast the expanse of space really is, and how what slight physical movements can have disastrous repercussions.
Jerk-bot, aka Jeff Michael Vice, can also be heard reviewing films, television programs, comics, books, music and other things as part of The Geek Show Podcast (www.thegeekshowpodcast.com), and seen reviewing films as part of Xfinity’s Big Movie Mouth-Off (www.facebook.com/BigMovieMouthOff).