I first watched Gravity two years ago after having no interest in what I assumed would be Cast Away in space. However, I was sucked in and on the edge of my seat the entire film. I’m currently teaching this to my Film 1 students and decided I needed to watch it again before hand. An added bonus was that my wife hadn’t seen it before. I give Gravity the Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy rating.
Gravity is an anxiety fueled thrill ride
Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a medical engineer working in space with astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney). An accident occurs leaving them in a dire situation and they must use their experience to try to survive or risk drifting off into space.
I often don’t enjoy films that feature so few characters. However, the tension that Cuaron is able to build in this film is intense. At times it does feel like it’s just a series of “what else can happen,” but given the circumstances it’s believable. Despite that, The film’s tension is crafted extremely well. The film moves quick and keeps that pace as one event happens after another. It’s definitely a thrill ride that is shot beautifully by Emmanuel Lubezki.
Bullock gives a very solid performance in this film and Clooney’s charm is as strong as ever. As Ryan Stone gets into worse and worse situations her reactions are extremely believable. I very much enjoyed the moments where she’s essentially mumbling under her breath as that’s what I do when I’m nervous. The way she is able to put together solutions to insurmountable problems is also believable. I mean, admitting that I know very little of the science involved, it works. The use of sound and visuals only strengthens the story.
If you skipped out on Gravity I recommend you pick it up. It’s tense and compelling human drama. How scary would it be being stranded in space? There isn’t much scarier scenarios I could think of in the world. The idea of being alone with minimal options is absolutely horrifying. It’s one incredible ride to watch though.
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