Doctor (??) and first time astronaut Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is on a mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope with software that she designed. While on a seemingly routine spacewalk (her first) with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), the unthinkable happens, and the two astronauts find themselves stranded outer space, low on oxygen, and desperate to survive.
The Good: First, this film is incredible to look at. Visually, it's an amazing achievement and one of the 2 or 3 best-looking films I can recall. It manages to perfectly convey the fine line between awe-inspiring beauty and certain death that is a fact of existence in the incredibly hostile environment of space. Despite the fact that the film portrays what would be the worst disaster to ever befall humanity's brief forays into space, the film still finds plenty of time to portray a real sense of awe and wonderment. Impeccably crafted, amazing to look at, and well-acted, this film is a real achievement. The narrative is tight and moves at a breathless pace - moving through naturally depicted space environs as all hell breaks loose. Considering that the entire film takes place over a few hours and features just a single scene on earth, it's pretty miraculous that this film works at all. The fact that it actually works pretty damn well is a testament to the quality of the artists involved.
The Bad: there are some scientific errors. I won't get into them, but if you're curious, look up Neil deGrasse Tyson's thoughts on the flick. So that is distracting on further evaluation, especially when the film obviously attempts to do so much right. I would never hold a film like say, Prometheus, to a requirement of a realistic portrayal of space travel, because it would never purport to exactly duplicate the settings. Gravity, however, attempts to get as much right as possible, which makes the errors particularly glaring. My biggest problem with the flick, and ultimately the single thing that prevents the film from truly being an emotionally powerful flick, is the casting. Not so much the acting, because she tries her best, but the casting. Let me explain. For a large chunk of the history of film, people were much more interested in the stars themselves than the films. You weren't seeing a movie, you were seeing a John Wayne movie, a Cary Grant movie, a Jimmy Stewart movie, etc. The 70's changed that, and acting became more about losing yourself in a role in a Shakespearian way than it did about a likable star hamming it up. There are exceptions, of course, and Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are the two biggest offenders. They are always just playing shades of Sandra Bullock and shades of George Clooney. Depending on the flick, that can work just fine. In a flick that's attempting to be an incredibly intense story of survival and perseverance, it's distracting, because I never lost sight of the fact that it was Sandra Bullock pretending to be an astronaut. At a certain level, that sounds silly, but I'd wager you know exactly what I'm talking about. I feel the casting did a disservice to the film and what it was trying to do, and I like Sandra Bullock fine, she can do all the rom-coms she wants, but I'm never going to believe her when she's crying about her daughter alone in a space capsule. Sorry, Sandy. One of the downfalls of being America's sweetheart, I suppose. Is that fair? Maybe, maybe not, but it really prevented me from going all-in on Gravity.
With that being said, Gravity is still an extremely effective and intense thriller that's incredible to look at. The visuals alone make it well worth seeing. Ultimately, the fact that the main character fell short for me prevented the film from breaking through to true greatness, but it remains a gorgeous piece of filmmaking.
8/10.
