And it works. In so many ways, Gravity is a great movie. It pushes the envelope of what can be accomplished in making a movie, to the point where you might be forgiven for thinking they really had filmed this movie in space.
It's the action, visuals, and special effects that shine the brightest in Gravity. Everything looks absolutely stunning. In some shots so much is happening at once on screen that it is impossible to keep track of everything in the chaos. There are long character point-of-view sequences (where the audience sees out of the eyes of our protagonist) that are brilliantly done. And there is a technically flawless shot that takes us from observing an astronaut tumbling through space, zoom in and into the helmet, shows us what she is seeing, then pulls outside again in one unbroken shot (stunning). But what works better in some cases is the small stuff -the way fire behaves in zero gravity, or the way a tear floats out from an eye rather than down the face. Truly, Gravity makes all the space stuff in Apollo 13 seem crude and unpolished. It just looks that good.
There are a few other things that stand out. When Ryan (Sandra Bullock) establishes some contact after long radio silence she (and we) are elated to hear another voice. The way she latches onto the smallest familiar sounds help us understand just how isolated and lonely she must be.
I also loved how space is treated the way space actually is -silent and completely hazardous. If there is no air, no radio, and no physical contact, then there is no sound. So space stations can explode only meters from Ryan, but there is no noise. And if she is using a drill, we only hear a noise that travels through her glove and into the air of her suit. It's all subtle and marvelous. Honestly, there can be no other serious contender for Best Sound Mixing. Come to think of it, Gravity should run the tables on most of the technical Oscar categories. The only sad thing is that the movie had to open with a wall of text explaining that space is silent -I assume the average audience just wouldn't know this basic fact.
But let me tell you, all the good only heightens for me the unrealized possibilities (and downright drawbacks). There are really only two characters in the film, played by Bullock and George Clooney. Bullock plays her character with drive and some subtlety, leading many to think this might be her second Oscar performance. However, her character simply isn't really developed all that much. And George Clooney plays George Clooney. Ok, SPOILER ALERT!! SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW A RATHER BIG PLOT POINT! Clooney's character is played as a professional, but rather self-absorbed. But the self-absorption angle plays against the completely selfless sacrifice he makes to help Ryan. His character is so flat, so nearly emotionless that it is hard to feel anything for him either.
SPOILERS END.
I didn't like the abundance of action. In itself, action is not a bad thing. However, Gravity tries to be reflective as well, attempting to address the big issues like "why try to live when everyone dies eventually?" and the precariousness of life as we tumble through space. The action is so unrelenting that it tends to work against such reflections; spectacle substitutes for substance. Eventually whatever points the movie is trying to make just feel shoehorned in and underdeveloped.
SPOILER ALERT AGAIN! SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH AGAIN TO KEEP AWAY FROM SPOILERS! The way that things only blew up when Ryan was around also tended to frustrate me. I mean, the debris plays havoc with the international space station, but there is hull integrity and such when she arrives. But give it a few minutes and WHAMMO, everything's blowing up. Then she gets to the Chinese station, it's rather intact still, then WHAMMO, everything's blowing up again. Ryan is either serious bad luck to be around, or stuff was just waiting to explode until she got there. Actually, it's all done in the name of plot convenience, a device I don't particularly like.
SPOILERS END. IT'S THE LAST TIME, I PROMISE.
So yeah, there are things that definitely could have been improved. But on the whole Gravity is fresh and fun. It deals with space better than any movie since 2001: A Space Odyssey. Though it fails to become the intellectual equal of 2001, still I found myself drawn to compare the two movies -which itself should tell you how good Gravity is.
Entertainment: 8/10
Artistic Value: 6/10
Technical Merit: 9/10
Overall: 7.5/10
P.S. I'm conflicted about "artistic value." I think Gravity opens the door on a number of good themes and artistic statements. I'm just not convinced that it deals with them in any meaningful way.
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