REVIEW - 'Gravity'

If you read my October Fall/Winter movie preview you'll know that while 'Gravity' was on my radar it wasn't exactly something that I thought looked all that good but I could see that it had potential.  Then it became the best reviewed movie so far this year (98% on Rotten Tomatoes, 96 on Metacritic) so of course I decided to go see it.


'Gravity' (PG-13) ***3/4

Medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) are part of a team that's on a mission to repair the Hubble Telescope.  This is her first space mission while this is his last.  After an accident destroys their shuttle Explorer and kills the rest of the mission's crew, Dr. Stone and Kowalski are adrift in space trying to survive without any means of communication with Earth and with only a limited supply of air. 

Simply put this movie is amazing and one of the better movies I've seen this year.  The special effects and the camerawork are both topnotch and absolutely breathtaking.  Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are both great in their roles with Bullock as the inexperienced, worried, frustrated, and ever isolated Dr. Stone against George Clooney as, well, himself if he were an experienced, almost retired astronaut and his name was Kowalski.  It's a very tense movie and it's also a very quiet movie, which greatly adds to the tension.  There is no sound in space as the trailers, the opening of the movie, and modern day science will tell you.  As debris crashes into various things in the movie, you can only see it.  You can't hear it.  Sure the trailer made some of the collisions have sound effects but this movie does not do that.  And that makes it more tense and terrifying.  Despite being quiet the movie never drags or gets boring, keeping things moving along and briskly paced in it's 90 minute run time.  From Alfonso Cuaron, the director of 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' and 'Children of Men'.  He also co-wrote this movie with his son Jonas, and this is yet another movie that the filmmakers had the concept for a while but kept waiting on technology to catch up so that they could finally make the movie (much like 'Avatar' and the 'Star Wars' prequels').  

 Now this is being offered in normal 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D.  The nearest IMAX is 40 miles away, so I opted to stay in town and watch it in 3D.  With the added depth that 3D brings, it made 'Gravity' that much more captivating to watch.  If you are interested in seeing it, I highly recommend watching it in 3D.  See it in IMAX 3D if you can.  Just the regular 3D was worth it but I'm sure it's even better in IMAX 3D.