Gravity - 4 smiles

“Gravity,” starring Sandra Bullock in an Oscar-winning performance, is spectacular. I saw it in 2D and it was amazing. I’m going to see it again in 3D, which, I understand, is another movie, like Avatar, that deserves to be seen in the 3D medium. Director Alfonso Cuarón has stated that his goal is to put the viewer in space with the characters and he certainly accomplishes this. He opens “Gravity” with a 20-minute unbroken shot that follows two characters, astronauts Ryan Stone (Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) on a spacewalk as they complete improvements to the Hubble Telescope. The camera dips and dives and moves to give us a sense of what it’s like to be in orbit. Earth is a big, beautiful globe in the background. The accident, when it occurs, is shocking and brutal. As an untethered Ryan somersaults through space, the camera moves into her helmet and provides a first person point-of-view of her panic and confusion. The story is a straightforward exploration of the difficulties faced by a woman alone fighting for survival. Stranded in space with her only obvious means of escape smashed, she must confront new challenges and dangers – fire, oxygen depletion, lack of fuel, a storm of satellite debris – to get home.

The level of tension is high and the conclusion is not certain. Bullock’s performance is top notch, outstripping her Oscar-winning role in The Blind Side. She runs the gamut of emotions from relief to despair and in many scenes must convey her emotional state without dialogue and with the camera close on her face. Physically, the role is demanding. And like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, she has no one to play off for a majority of the film. George Clooney is given co-billing with Bullock (probably because of his box office draw), but “Gravity” is Bullock’s movie all the way. And the setting, created entirely on computers, is a wondrous thing to behold. It gives is an idea of what it must be like to be in space, surrounded by silence, floating in a near vacuum. “Gravity” is state-of-the-art special effects and superior acting and must be seen on the big screen. 10/23/13