If Thor: The Dark
World is a film to watch while folding socks, Gravity is one that rewards the viewer’s full attention. Gravity
is beautiful, awe inspiring, and captivating.
It’s the kind of movie that’ll make you spring for the biggest, best 3-D
TV you can afford, then hope for an IMAX revival run.
The film begins in orbit, with first-time astronaut Sandra
Bullock trying to fix a malfunctioning circuit board outside the Hubble Space
Telescope; while salty spacewalker George Clooney enjoys the moment. As the trailers indicate, this routine mission
comes to a catastrophic end when remnants of a destroyed Russian satellite
collide with the Telescope and the astronauts’ space shuttle.
So begins a tense, exhilarating survival tale. One is hard-pressed to imagine a more
unforgiving environment than space, but these characters are smart, capable,
resourceful professionals. What a pleasure
to watch a film not about screaming morons, but about adults dealing with
stresses that push them to their breaking points.
I don’t want to say more about the story for fear of giving
away plot points, so I’ll write that director Alfonso Cuarón and cinematographer
Emmanuel Lubezki (working, of course, with a huge team) have created the most
beautiful film I’ve seen since Aronofsky’s The
Fountain. In addition to the
virtuoso opening sequence, Gravity offers
moments (such as that featured in the photo) of remarkable beauty coupled with
thematic resonance. This is wonderful
stuff, the very epitome of mainstream filmmaking.
In other words, Gravity
is a masterpiece. I only wish I’d seen
it in IMAX 3D.
