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When I first saw a trailer for Gravity,
I was underwhelmed, to say the least, and entertained at how bad it looked, to
say the worst. It seemed like an Apollo 13 remake sans Tom Hanks (likely
because he was too busy trying to keep his ship free of Somali pirates and trying
to find anyone who believes his Christ-like portrayal of Captain Phillips is in
any way historically accurate). I laughed as Sandra Bullock spun into the black
void of outer space, and wondered how director Alfonso Cuarón could possibly
form a compelling movie revolving around one actress, twirling in space, in an
unflattering suit.
I was content to glance at the film’s
poster as it came and went from cinemas, and occasionally watch an animated
.gif of its star twirling endlessly into space to keep me chuckling at nights,
but then the internet exploded, critics all but threatening castration to
anyone who didn’t see the movie, and I renounced my unwarranted misgivings and
coughed up the money.
If you’ve seen the previews, you know
the plot. People are in space, shit goes wrong, etc. I’ve seen comparisons to
Avatar floating around, and it actually strikes me as a pretty good assessment.
Both films are best fully experienced in three dimensions with the aid of
uncomfortable glasses, both are CG-heavy, immersive experiences relying mostly
on atmosphere and spectacle, and both sport scripts with an unhealthy amount of
cliché-ridden dialogue and overly simplistic characters (though Gravity never
even approaches the “I’m a scientist, I don’t believe in fairy tales” levels of
terribad that is Avatar).
All the tropes are there to view. The
anxious rookie protagonist who needs to pull herself together and grow as a
person to make it through internal and external conflicts; the triumph of the
human spirit against even the harshest of odds and dangerous, flying, inanimate
objects; and of course the veteran on his last mission who’s looking forward to
going home and getting everyone a round of beers on him, played by George
Clooney. Really, George Clooney being charming and flirtatious is almost a
cliché at this point, but in case you were wondering, he can still charm you,
even outside of Earth’s orbit. If only the film delved into the story of the
numerous crew members who lost their lives attempting to disrobe for him in
space. Anyway, throw in some manipulative character writing about dead kids
just to make sure the audience wants old S-Bull to survive, and you’ve got
Gravity.
Now that I’m done moaning – this movie
is amazing. First of all, it finally managed to make shelling out for 3D
something other than me throwing cash at movie producers to become mildly
disoriented. Secondly, every special effect is hellbent on giving you space
vertigo, in a good way. When Sandra Bullock goes twirling off, you go right
along with her, which gives you the awesome illusion of being on a
rollercoaster in space; which, if anyone with the means to make that happen is
reading, needs to be a real thing.
I think the film’s greatest strength,
however, is that it actually does sound-mixing in space correctly – because, of
course, outer space is vacuous of sound. I discovered something at the cinema
that day that I did not know previously. Silent explosions are terrifying.
Picture a grenade explosion. Now picture that explosion with the ability to
silently sneak up on you to do its exploding business. Now picture that
explosion in 3D sneaking up on Sandra Bullock while you have to watch, and
she’s just SO close to getting that space thingy working which would allow her
to find a brief respite of space safety, but she just can’t seem to get it to
work, and there’s satellite chunks flying towards her, and George Clooney’s
still trying to get jiggy, but there’s just no time! NO TIME!
It’s kind of like that.
So, while the script is unfortunately
weak at times, I’m inclined to mostly give Gravity a pass in that department
because it was unlike any other cinema experience I’ve had before. It’s
certainly no Best Picture winner, but it’s well worth the price of admission,
especially in 3D.
