Gravity was released in the USA nearly a month before here in Britain so chances are you have heard at least something about Gravity. A group of the most varied people could watch this film and all of them could enjoy it for something completely different than the other. Whether you’re a fan of space films themselves, wonderfully executed visual effects, the plights of those in peril or you’re already a fan of Alfonso Cuarón, it will satisfy your desire. The film follows a typical disaster film plot line with a team of astronauts, Ryan Stone and Matt Kowalski, played by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney respectively, surviving one deadly situation that leads to even deadlier situations.

 

I remember when I was a kid watching space films like Star Wars that made me want to go out into space just to experience the view of a planet’s curvature; Gravity does the job of recapturing that childhood excitement I used to feel, a feeling that I have not felt for years. Alfonso Cuarón does a magnificent job of creating a cinema experience that I don’t think could ever be recreated. Within the first twenty minutes, with Cuarón doing what he has become well known for, with his use of long shots that last a good chunk of time that introduce us to the characters, sets the tone and does what an opening sequence should. With a jump start to the main plot, a debris field strikes, causing chaos and results in a scene that had me feeling dizzy, tense and terrified. Dizzy may seem an odd feeling to have but the film works by immersing you in the situation so that you feel things you have probably never felt while watching a film. I saw the film in 3D and I like many others have never enjoyed the expensive gimmick but it does a great job of immersing you even further with debris flying towards you to the point that I was physically flinching. After nearly every scene of disaster, an audible gasp could be heard from the audience as we had all forgotten to breathe.

 

Despite the nearly flawless opinions that are circling, I feel some areas of the film are flawed. Apart from a few details we learn of Ryan’s life on Earth, there is not too much character development or character depth. We are not given enough time to get to learn the characters' personalities in everyday life before the disasters begin so we don’t see the characters go through much change throughout the film. The only two characters who are worth talking about are those played by Bullock and Clooney, which is not a bad thing as it helps to create the feeling of isolation and loneliness, but we are told next to nothing of Clooney’s character. This is not to say the characters are bad, as Clooney is hilarious and incredibly entertaining and Bullock mostly represents how an average person would react in a disaster, but for a film that has all of its emotional drive relying on wanting to see these characters safe, it does feel somewhat lacking. While some may view the lack of character depth as discouraging, let me assure you, this is not a film about what the characters on screen are experiencing. This is a film about what

you as a viewer are experiencing. As I’ve said, this film gave me a cinema experience that will most likely never happen again and made me question film in a way I didn’t think a Hollywood film could.

 

While the visuals are a spectacle in their own right, the film also uses sound very effectively, which is ironic to say as I believe the best use of sound in the film is using the silence of space. When debris and broken parts of spacecraft are exploding and flying across the screen there is complete silence. This creates an odd sense of confusion and unease, as typically when an explosion happens on screen it is accompanied by a massive burst of sound, but in space there is nothing to be heard. Typically when loud noises happen you have the natural instinct to run away but when you see only the chaos with no sound you stare in anticipation in emotional limbo, waiting for the camera to cut away.

 

Gravity is THE space film of our generation and it is good to see a film that doesn’t drag itself

out to two and a half hours like most films now feel the need to be. A film to be seen and one

will that leave you feeling happy that you’re not an astronaut.