Gravity

Gravity (2013)

98% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 244 reviews)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron

Starring: George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, and the voice of Ed Harris

From: Warner Brothers

Yep, I finally saw this last night, and on a giant screen and in 3D, as I was told this was the way to go. Until I heard just about everyone going wild for this, I had no real opinion on the movie; I feel the same about the two stars and even the director, whose movies I had never seen before. I know, I know... I just haven't felt like it; it took him 4 years to make this one, and somehow was able to fight through the usual idiotic studio interference to create what he wanted to; I had no idea or not if it was worth the wait.

You already know the plot now, of how a newbie in space (Bullock) and an astronaut on his last mission (Clooney) experience a catastrophic event, and they have to deal with those nearly impossible conditions. I won't spoil anything past that, except that Bullock's character does have a backstory that some have griped about, as they felt it wasn't needed. I do understand the complaint but it did not bother me too much, and maybe that was the one concession given to the studio; they requested it be more cliché or more what you usually see on the big screen, so that one thing isn't so bad in comparison.

Anyhow, it turns out that I do agree with most people; this is a great movie. It's a unique plot of how you are in one location (space) and it always looks great. It's just a beautiful movie to look at and you actually feel you are in outer space. How they managed to film it I have no idea but for now I'll be happy to remain in the dark. 

It's certainly never boring even when you only have a limited number of characters to follow the entire time; it's always tense and exciting due to the situation and throughout you go through a whole lot of different emotions. The performances help make it a hit; the two actors are like, “yeah, whatever” and I don't go out of my way to seek their films. However, they did a great job here and it only further made you believe you were in outer space with them. Besides what I've mentioned already, the sound design and the score also are a perfect match for what you see; it's actually realistic to what you'd hear if you were in outer space, that's how the sound design is.

I am not sure yet how I'll rate it in comparison to the rest of the top movies I've seen. I am thinking this will be the movie for the year for me for it being such a different experience and yet it's very thrilling to watch and it's all so well-done. I am certainly not one who believes the hype in general and I am usually skeptical when I hear people going wild for something, as more often than not I think the hype was too much for what you actually got. This time, though, believe the hype; if you do decide to see it, a giant screen is a must, whether it be AMC's ETX, Regal's RPX, Cinemark XD, the fake IMAX, or the legit thing. All would be appropriate.

I'll be back tomorrow night.