A great lead and a beautiful production that deserved a better story

Rating: 6/10 (13 December 2013)

Gravity opens with some of the best-looking space vistas in recent movie history. It makes much use of 3D, with astronauts flying past and objects floating toward the camera, which has a dizzying effect similar to what Sandra Bullock's character, Dr. Ryan Stone, reports feeling while making upgrades to the Hubble. The movie quickly jolts into an intense scene that leaves Dr. Stone breathless and probably has a similar effect on most viewers. In the long, unbroken moment when Stone is recovering from the shock, the film seems on the cusp of a lot of exciting and terrifying possibilities. One of the least interesting of these is that it could turn into a routine thriller, with an endless series of last-second escapes leading into endless new disasters as improbable as they are predictable. This is the route Cuaron chooses. At one point, it got so overbearing that I made myself chuckle at the thought of Bullock having to escape something as absurd as sharks and dinosaurs. It nearly gets there. Dr. Stone's personal arc is, unfortunately, not strong enough to compensate for the plot's failings, though Bullock is a compelling protagonist and it's easy to like and root for her. Probably not since Ripley has there been a female character who so singlehandedly carries a space movie on her shoulders, and for that reason if none other "Gravity" is a welcome addition to the sci-fi canon.