Wow! a visually stunning film; this is what 3D is for.

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 2013)

This is a film that was bound to do well; Bullock and Clooney, both big draw names and both very talented actors, popular and with appeal for both serious and comedic roles. They had good chemistry on screen despite limited contact, but mainly Bullock shines on her own for the majority of the film, and other than that the majority of anything happening you just have their faces and their voices and still the film carries weight in terms of gripping the audience. I can't remember the last time I was in a cinema when people were so quiet, I barely wanted to bite my popcorn! I think people were stunned.
Difficult to review without spoilers but the premise of the film is well known; people in space, they run into difficulties... Apollo 13 was similar, problem after problem, tense like a roller-coaster. This was particularly tense and gripping as a) it's in 3D so everything is more vividly shown and b) Bullock has a way of drawing you in to her little world and c) you can imagine how mind bogglingly scary it would be very easily. Being in space, outside in it, free-floating... alone... Brrrrr...
Bullock had worked hard for this role, she had worked out A LOT and it must have been physically draining as a lot of the scenes were weightless and unless they used CGI (which I think they did, a bit, very well) and/or some very clever wire work, she was doing long scenes in free-fall anti-gravity plane flights - difficult!! She did it brilliantly and convincingly and you could really believe it was all happening to her. The plot is very slim - but there is a little back story and in the absence of lots of varied events and dialogue and back and forth, there is pathos, existential epiphanies and some really touching moments. Sounds are made use of, music (a great score and soundtrack) and attention to detail in the sound effects. There's no glamour, and emotionally Bullock was very exposed without anything to hide behind just raw emotion and fear and struggle. I got a bit teary at one point, I will admit.
The real star of the show was Gaia - Planet Earth; however they depicted it, whether it was real space shots or CGI or whatever, it was magnificent, it added the spectacle and the backdrop to a lot of very close in action sequences, and the infinite reaches of space were engrossing when you got to look out, it felt huge in the cinema with the 3D glasses on, really beautiful. I haven't really appreciated 3D much before but in Gravity it was necessary and it had a point to it. In the confined space of the space pods on the station, the effect was so realistic as to be there - and some of the scenes were shot out of Bullock's eyes making you right there in the action. Little details like that, the use of the lens as eye, things ending up on the lens to give the impression of intimacy and being there, the use of reflection (very arty in places) and the whole visual of the film was one of the best I've seen. The CGI in this film; the 3D effects though were incredible - mind-blowing = a special effect was tear drops floating in front of the viewers eye/the lens, tiny details were what made this film despite the scale of it. It had the same visual effect as... remember the first time you saw T2 or Matrix? Like that.
Whilst I thought this film was superb in terms of visuals, stunning and very artistic, and the performance by Sandra Bullock was especially raw and worthy of accolade, I can't see that Gravity would translate well to DVD unless you had a screen the size of your wall. It is a big screen film, a 3D film, and without those two things I don't think the impact of it would be as great and so it has limited appeal. I don't expect its a film you could (or would want to) see over and over again either and once you know what happens, the tension is probably gone.