A massive disappointment, but certainly a beautiful one

Rating: 4/10 (16 March 2014)

Movies in space are as common as they come, be it the shaky sets and questionable science of the 1940's and 50's, the camp and kitschy 60's and 70's, the alien-filled deep space of the 80's and 90's, or the explosive CGI of nowadays, audiences have always had a thirst for space opera and film-makers have always had a vision of the great darkness above the sky. But never has it seemed so real, so beautiful and so utterly terrifying as it is in Gravity, Alfono Cuaron's first movie since the excellent Children of Men (2006). It is a truly stellar vision, possibly the finest use of special effects ever. Yet oddly, I kinda hated Gravity, because for all it's promise and early vigour, it's just your average Hollywood popcorn-muncher wrapped in a pretty bow.
Deep into a space mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, rookie engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) focuses on her work while the wily veteran Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) hums pop tunes and makes cocky remarks. Suddenly, they are hit by high-speed debris from a Russian satellite and are flung into space. Their shuttle, Explorer, is destroyed and their entire crew dead, and their only hope is to float across the great nothing to a Chinese space station, where they hope to re-connect with Houston and find a way home. But with the debris quickly making it's way back around and the perils of nothingness in their way, Stone is faced with some quick and tough decisions.
It's a shame I didn't get to see this in the cinema, as, although I'm not a fan of the 3D revolution, the staggering visuals and wonderful cinematography would have no doubt complimented the medium. Space here is a terrifying beast, the first time cinema has really captured how vast it really is. When Stone is first flung away from the Hubble, she spins manically out of control, reaching out for objects that aren't there, screaming when there's no-one there to hear her. Of course, smooth operator Kowalski is on hand to fly out and rescue her, but in those few minutes of desperation, she is truly alone.
Yet away from the action, Gravity dabbles in terrible, ham-fisted dialogue, familiar disaster-movie set-pieces, and heavy-handed metaphorical imagery about birth, death and life. This is the kind of film that has lines like "you've got to learn to let go" and "clear skies with a chance of satellite debris." Normally I would brush this off as your typical pap but I wanted and expected so much more from Gravity. After the heart-pounding opening 20 minutes, the film begins to drag, and actually feels long for a movie of just 90 minutes. Bullock's character is meant to an underdog, sympathetic in her never-say-die attitude, but she comes off as inept and annoying, and I fail to see why the Academy found her performance worthy of an nomination. A massive disappointment, but certainly a beautiful one.
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