Gravity

3.5 Stars (out of four)

Gravity was not what I expected.  I had heard that it wasn't very good from a person who had seen it. I thought it was going to be like the 2003 film Open Water, a film where a shipwrecked couple ends up in shark-infested waters.  It gets more and more intense until SPOILER ALERT!!! they end up getting eaten at the end.  With the Gravity previews, the film had a similar feel.  But, to my surprise, it was something I did not expect.

Gravity starts with Dr. Ryan Stone, Sandra Bullock's character who is assigned to a space shuttle mission testing a new sensor foe the Hubble telescope.  During an EVA mission, the Russians destroyed one of their satellites which causes a storm of space debris that destroys the shuttle and sends Ryan hurtling off into space.  George Clooney's character, Matt Kowalsky, manages to save her and gets her back to the destroyed shuttle.  They decide to go to the International Space Station to use the Soyuz capsule to get back to Earth.  Bad situation follows bad situation.  Will she get back?  Will she die?  You have to see it.

I don't want to give away the ending, but I do have to give away some details.  Ryan ends up on her own fairly quickly.  So, like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, this is really an acting exercise.  Sandra must carry this film on her own, and she does it incredibly well.  But a good acting performance isn't enough.  The movie has to be compelling, it has to be entertaining, and this movie has both in spades.  It is equally exciting during the space scenes and emotional when events slow down.  The action scenes are incredible. They do, however, remind me a little of Armageddon, as thing after thing keeps going wrong, bouncing from worse to worse situation.  But the best, and most important part is, it is incredibly life-affirming.   Alfonse Cuáron is known for creating scenes of great majesty and beauty, and this film is no exception.  The only criticism I have with the film is that there really isn't a lot to it, the same as Cast Away.  There is only so much you can or can't do with only one character, so there tends to be a lot of wasted time on vistas rather than a story.  However, I would recommend that if anyone see it, see it in IMAX.  Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, it will lose a lot on a smaller screen.  Other than that, it is very tight, very watchable and worth the time.