Gravity will absorb you!

Rating: 9/10 (26 October 2013)

Gravity glitters on the screen with pureness Lack of futile effects, non existence of stupid-illogical action and void of American Hero based story (Maybe George Clooney could count on it) brings a solid sci-fi movie in front of us. Gravity is not just a cool example of this genre but also a brave and visionary visual feast in terms of cinematography. The storyline and the script are not revolutionary but the way they are presented is flawless. In short, Gravity is one of the best movies in sci-fi genre which surrounds you with its stirring visual atmosphere.
The story is not something new, especially, after the movies such as Apollo 13, From the Earth to the Moon, In the Shadow of the Moon and so on. Our lovely and bold astronauts encounter a devastating problem in outer space and they have to deal with it. However, this ordinary story is held under from a little bit different perspective. Sandra Bullock is the main engineer who is responsible to render her abilities for a broken satellite. George Clooney is the pilot of the mission and in my opinion, he is the "American Hero" kind a guy to smoothen the tension of the movie. While our fellas are working outside of the satellite, fragments of an useless and old Russian satellite which has been bombed by Russian government start moving towards American satellite waiting for repair. Wrong calculations of Houston and Russian Government somehow cause the disaster so that all the fragments of bombed satellite hit our guys with a bullet speed. American satellite falls into pieces and our astronauts become homeless in deep space. From that point they have to follow the human nature and survival instincts to be alive but wait! Imagine yourself in emptiness. It is the feeling that movie give you how ridiculous trying to stay alive in space after a situation like that. The incident raises the question: "What would you do to go back home?".
As I've emphasized a minute ago, the movie gives more than an improved cliché sci-fi story. The environment (space itself) is incredibly suitable to grab audience and force them to emphasize with the astronauts. The big applause should go for the director Alfonso Cuaron. He did a brilliant job to create such a stressful atmosphere with a minimalist approach which I couldn't experience in the other astronaut- space movies. I say "minimalist approach" and it may seem quite trivial if you consider the movie is a big budget shot, also going in space. However, our main characters are generally troubling in little space shuttles or strolling in the space. In other words, attributes of the environment are so minimal. Alfonso Cuaron manipulates this emptiness that pops out from the environment surprisingly well. You do not get tired because of flashy environment changes or cripple camera movements since the environment is so stable (obviously space) that every action, explosion and disaster during the movie hypnotize you. There are no suffocating visual effects. The visual effects are as smooth as water and your brain drains every entertaining scene. If you already watched one of the Transformers movies, you will get the difference. In the movies like transformers, visual effects are trivially massive and inaccurate. You feel that something visually brilliant is going on the screen but you cannot feel the flow of it. Gravity is revolutionary because of its artful and flawless visual effects. You do not need to squint to comprehend the details of the explosions as they are in Michael Bay's movies. Every action scene resembles an art exhibition in Gravity and 3D technology makes it more tempting inevitably.
When it comes to the stars of the movie, I must confess the true success of Sandra Bullock. Among all the acting skills of her, she is so convenient to this role thanks to her physical appearance. Let's imagine Nicole Kidman or Jennifer Lawrence in this movie! I wouldn't imagine such a sexy and dainty astronaut trying to get back to world after losing her satellite. Bullock is like a full pack with her appearance. She has that feminine strength the movie needed, she is not a baby doll which is not stereotypically supposed to be convenient to a female astronaut and she has the action movie charisma coming from her discography. She is tremendously brilliant to give audience the loneliness feeling in the space. She forces you with a convincing desperation to emphasize her fear and struggle. George Clooney is the passageway of this movie. He represents the cool, brave and oddly arrogant American Hero stereotype. The funny part is that his role did not bother me. On the contrary, I believe that his character is determiner of the movie's tension. His arrogant serenity eases the tension after a massive action scene and then suddenly, surpasses that flow with sudden up-side downs. Fortunately, Cuaron keeps his role limited and as adequate as the movie needs. That's why, it would be delusional to come up with a concrete judgment about Clooney's acting success in the movie with his limited role.
As a matter of fact, I would generously say that Gravity is one of the best visually successful movies in the cinema history. Even though story is not that original, storytelling and its presentation with incredibly beautiful visual effects (I would claim them not effects but true arts) grab audience and make them feel how astronauts could feel if they are stuck in space and not able to go back to mother earth. 3D technology makes the movie even better and I have to confess that I hated 3D technology till this brilliant movie. Director Cuaron should be dignified because of the success to come through such a movie and turn it into screenplay.