There are NO menacing aliens, NO futuristic setting, NO star wars of any scale, NO post nuclear struggle and NO quest for dark ancestral entities.
You might ask then, "where o where" is the adventure, thrill or suspense that you might expect as in the case of any good sci-fi movie? What could this movie possibly offer especially with NO futuristic vision, laser marauding army, intelligent-ugly aliens or that epic space war of which the fate of all mankind is on the brink of extinction?
The vision, synchronicity, virtual lighting and innovation of Gravity is breathtaking |
Indeed, all that GRAVITY boasts are that of vast space, the art of space walking, a dreaded space debris - the space equivalent of a tsunami, empty space stations and more space nothingness of endless darkness with specks of light far yonder.
BUT PLEASE, LET ME WARN YOU - MISS THIS AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
Sandra Bullock is Mission Specialist Ryan Stone |
"At 600 Kilometres above the planet earth, the temperature fluctuates between 120 degrees Celcius and -100 degrees Celcius".
"There is nothing to carry sound. There is no oxygen, no air resistance and no air pressure".
"LIFE, is impossible"!
The movie opens with these words spread across your screen and the endless vast, dark emptiness of infinite space and the orbiting splendour of Earth.
A movie that is gravitationally (pun intended) a masterpiece |
As Ryan and Matt scavenge to return to the Explorer, the high speed debris suddenly appear out from the dark space and ravages the Explorer and Hubble. In the hailstorm of debris, the mission ends up with devastating damage to the Explorer and in the process, its crew are killed. Ryan and Matt are hurled violently over space and as the debris threaten their mortality, Matt and Ryan are saved, ironically, they are detached from their tether line. But now, Ryan is hurling off into space altogether with completely no control and to her death as the oxygen level in her space suit inevitably depletes.
George Clooney is Matt Kowalski, a veteran astronaut |
Imagine, being thousands of miles from earth, completely on your own, floating, no sound and just vast dark space all around you, flickering lights as far away as your eyes could see and the humbling truth knowing that the debris that had just devastated your entire hope for life, will indefinitely be completing the orbital journey around earth and thus, straight at you. Your choices are, pray that either your oxygen runs out before that or by some miracle, help arrives.
Fearlessness to overcome every personal barrier drives Ryan Stone |
Space debris devastates the mission and survival of the Explorer space crew |
The movie, in its purposeful way, seem to question our very existence and our endless journey as individualistic humans are subtly interlaced into the scenes and are connotatively suggested. There is a particular scene in the movie, after an adversity of great challenge, Ryan finally hurls herself inside the safety of the Russian space station, and peeling off her space suit, to be left only clad in her under-clothing, she then, in complete peace and oneness with herself, floats in mid-air, slowly tucks her knees towards her and with the uncanny setting of the lit airlock as its background. It was reminiscent of a foetal position in the womb of the mother and at that instant, i felt this was quite the visionary strokes of both Alfonso Cuaron and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. The sense of realism and its underlying insinuations quite the triumph.
The premise of space and the cinematography and digital realism is spellbinding |
Its very difficult to exactly describe why GRAVITY, is for me, THE movie that will matter for quite some time. The innovative boldness and directive brilliance of Alfonso Cuaron is breathtaking. The screen writing of both Alfonso and his son, Jonas is sheer movie philosophical mastery. The brilliance of setting the entire movie in space but being able to assert everything as true to life and as we know it, simply is magical. It is devastatingly intricately detailed in every shot that you witness. If you keenly watch, the determination to meet the exact accuracy of each scene is quite spellbinding and leaves you in desperate awe. For example, there is a scene where the reflection mirrored off Ryan's space helmet show intricately identical viewpoint to that of what Matt would view in the following scene and in yet another example, the earth landscape from space is transformed to coincide with the sun setting and the earth orbiting.
Alfonso Cuaron has set the new benchmark for movies in this genre |
Sandra Bullock in the Russian Space Station attempting to contact George Clooney |
IF YOU HAVE TIME TO ONLY WATCH ONE MOVIE THEN GRAVITY SHOULD BE IT |
DO NOT MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO WATCH THIS !
Rating 9 of 10