Must Be Watched In 3D

Rating: 9/10 (1 December 2013)

Wow.
Director Alfonso Cuaron's has really made the use of 3D into powerful theatrical tool. This picture will really lose something crucial when viewed in 2D at home.
Obviously the film is entirely CGI'd, but from the opening scene Cuaron's use of the camera gives a sense of disorientation to the viewer. The camera pans in and out and around the space station, whizzing past the characters at odd angles. It really gives a sense of being in space, where things float by and dart around with uncontrollable trajectories. The film is a total immersion into the vastness and unpredictability of space.
It is a great performance by Sandra Bullock, who is largely the only person on camera throughout the film. Clooney, although billed as a joint lead, is not really in the movie after the half-way point. Bullock gives a very convincing account of the terror, panic, resignation and determination of Dr Stone - which is effectively displayed in various points via a concentration on the character's breathing. The real co star in the film is Cuaron's CGI background which is equally breathtaking.
The plot is good but it does leave the viewer with a feeling of "oh what next?!" when things continue to go wrong, although this just builds up the intensity. The film is only 90 mins long so the action is really packed into a short timescale which adds to the anxiety it leaves on the audience.
This film was all about the spectacle for me. The disorientation of the camera work and the eerie silences really conveyed the solitude of space throughout the movie.
Cuaron has raised the bar.