Gravity (2013) Review

There aren’t many movies that engrosses you so deeply that you can’t escape and don’t want to. You don’t want to escape even when you know you could rest easier if you just stopped watching. Gravity is one of those rare films that gets everything right in the technical aspects of sound, visuals, and giving the characters enough depth for the story that is to be told. Yes, there are things that happen that aren’t realistic, but only those knowledgeable about them will notice. I was discussing with a friend about some of those things and it didn’t stop him from thoroughly enjoying the film.

James Cameron:

“Gravity is the best space film ever made”

Gravity is a film starring Sandra Bullock as the lead character of Ryan Stone. George Clooney (playing Matt Kowalski) is in the beginning and then goes away shortly after. The film’s plot is about Stone trying to get back to Earth after space debris destroys the space shuttle she was traveling on.

Is the film’s premise basic? Yes. Is that a problem? No! The characters are given enough depth to make you feel what you’re supposed to.

One of the things that I love in movies and t.v shows is the playing around of sound. What I mean by that is that it isn’t just the existence of sound in the movie, but the people in charge getting creative about it. Playing around with sound in a movie or show can greatly increase the mood. An example I love to give of this is the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5 episode ‘The Body’. The playing around of sound to enhance the difficult subjects of death and loss in that episode are beautifully poignant.

The visuals are outstanding. I would highly recommend seeing this in Imax and in 3D. I am usually not a big 3D person and I think that most movies can do without it. Even Avatar didn’t need 3D in my opinion. But Gravity is the only movie I believe needs to be experienced in 3D. Viewing the movie in 3D made my experience even better. I know there are some of you who can’t view it in 3D for various reasons, and it seems that without the 3D it’d still be a good film.

I’ve heard people complaining that Stone talking to herself was distracting. The reason given in the film is that Stone is talking on the off chance that Houston will hear her. The other reason, that I am making a guess at here, is that the film would be silent otherwise. As mentioned before, Clooney’s character of Kowalski isn’t in the majority of the movie and so Bullock has to carry the film on her own. A film having little dialogue isn’t a negative right off the bat, but I know a good majority of people would be complaining about the silence if Stone hadn’t been talking to herself. Probably the same ones that are complaining about Stone’s dialogue.

I am giving Gravity a five out of five. This has been my best movie experience of the year and one of the best films I’ve seen of 2013 so far.