Gravity (2013)

Genre : SF
Country: USA

Cast :
Sandra Bullock : Ryan Stone
George Clooney : Matt Kowalsky
Ed Harris : stem vanuit Houston

Director:
Alfonso Cuaron

Summary
Dr. Ryan Stone is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone - tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness.


My opinion

"You've got to learn to let go."

In visual terms “Gravity” is overwhelming with those images of Earth. The infinity and immensity of the universe is beautifully put into the picture . The insignificance of man in this intolerable environment gives you a constant tightness . However, I think that you only get that overwhelming feeling when you watch this movie in the cinema. On a normal LCD TV in the living room there’s not much left of this space spectacle. And that’s quite a damper on the expected experience because the story on its own isn’t really that much of a deal. I think it's a great achievement to create such an entertaining film with this simple story and only two characters constantly on the screen.

I sat almost the entire movie on the edge of the sofa cause of the tension. The movie has a surprisingly fast pace. It’s one situation after the other . But if you omit the stunning CGI and forget about the probably impressive 3D images , there remains nothing else than a boring tedious blockbuster. And they made such a big fuss about it. A big hype over nothing, my guess. Reading roughly through the remarks at IMDb I’m not the only one with that idea. I also found it disturbing that someone can be so unlucky in just one day . Chronologically all this happens: the shuttle gets hit by debris resulting in some casualties and one person (Bullock) floating in space, she’s picked up again by Clooney , but is almost without oxygen , with his thruster pack they go on their way to the ISS , they smash into it and Clooney releases himself heroically to rescue Bullock, almost choking she enters the ISS , a fire breaks out and she has to disconnect the Soyuz , the Soyuz gets tangled to a parachute, the ISS is destroyed by debris , the Soyuz has no fuel , Bullock uses the burners for landing, she reaches the Chinese space station using a fire extinguisher , goes into the atmosphere , and even though she doesn’t understand Chinese she lands safely by randomly pressing the right buttons. That’s not enough though. She almost drowns also after the landing . It wouldn’t be a surprise she’ll never ever join a space trip again in her life.

Although the two main actors are not the least , they can’t make the film look better. Sandra Bullock didn’t convince me as being a scientist with high intellect . She looked more like a Miss America who won a space trip . Clooney was so extremely charming and gallant in space. I expected every moment that he would serve a delicious Nespresso. And then realizing that the making of this empty movie needed $ 100 million. They could have made a few better movies with that kind of money. And I won't mention the technical and scientific impossibilities as they are described by a NASA expert on Wikipedia. But ok, otherwise it would be a even more boring and dead serious flick . And it should be entertaining, not ? Unlike many other spectators , I didn’t think the moment where Ryan starts barking and howling like a dog was ridiculous or silly. For me it was rather a touching moment .

Conclusion : a gem in imaging, but as space itself , it is an airless story. It feels more like a black hole.

My rating 4 /10
Links : IMDB