Why Gravity is so great - an analysis after a 2nd viewing

Rating: 9/10 (7 October 2013)

I just saw Gravity for the 2nd time, both times in IMAX 3D. Relieved of the suspense of following the plot, I was able to be a lot more analytical about what was working well and why the experience of Gravity is so overwhelming.
1. Musical score - This is probably the best musical score on a film that I have ever heard. Bullock and Clooney could have been pealing potatoes and the musical score would still have elicited an emotional response from the audience. But given the action on screen, the meshing of the musical score was just perfect. I can't emphasize enough how much the music carries the movie at spots. And yet, the music is never intrusive. I now realize that the musical scoring is an artistic accomplishment that is unsurpassed by any other aspect of Gravity, such as cinematography.
2. Sound and sound effects. - Given the sterile scenes of space, the sound effects have unusually high leverage in Gravity. Indeed, sometimes the bumping and rattling sounds are doing the story-telling. The low frequency part of the bumps and rattles are set to great amplification (in the sound mixing) to create the in-theater experience of shaking and vibrating -complementing what astronauts Ryan and Kowalski are undergoing on the screen. I'm not a sound expert, so I can't judge whether Gravity's sound effects and mixing were simply "ordinary excellence" or "ground-breaking excellence" -but the sound engineering was very,very good and unusually important and effective.
3. The visual effects. The progression of scenes in Gravity forms a sequence of "reveals" of first-time visual effects, so as to keep us in a continuous state of amazement for the first half of the film.
(a) the first reveal is the magnificent Earthscape that serves as the backdrop for the first third of Gravity. By the way, there is an error in the 3-D version.
(b) the second reveal is the unprecedented realism and special effects associated with the zero-gravity movement of the astronauts in space. This keeps us entertained until:
(c) the third reveal, which is the point-of-view of a spinning astronaut. We've never seen anything like that, and it persisted for what felt like several minutes. It was a very dramatic storytelling technique.
(d) the fourth reveal of a new visual effect is the "head-wound" of the third astronaut. The head-wound is on screen for just a few seconds, but it certainly is a powerful visual and really shakes the audience. We have never seen anything like that, either.
(e) the fifth reveal of new visual effects is the complexity and "reality" of the external view of the International Space Station (ISS). Wow! If the viewer hasn't bought into the movie at this point, then they must be a different species than I am.
(f) the sixth reveal is the visual scenes of the destruction of the ISS by the satellite debris. This scene is probably the visual highlight of Gravity. The decoupling of sound from the carnage (in the vacuum of space)is completely correct but makes this a new experience. We hear Ryan's breathing and the bumping sounds as she moves around the structure, but these personal Point-Of-View sounds are unconnected to the visual scenes of large structural explosions and shredding. All of this is matched by a musical score which swells with the destruction and guides our emotions.
After the ISS destruction, Cuarón has used much of his bag of tricks (for visual effects)and he turns to Sandra Bullock, alone and shed of her space suit, to carry the film with her acting and make the film more human.
4. Acting. After a second review, I realize that Sandra Bullock does considerably more than saying "uh-uh-uh-uh." She has a fair number of very fine acting moments. Her voice and face acting are excellent during her initial discussion about her dead daughter. Her entire lengthy scene within the Soyuz lander module is very well done. Other than tears that form spherical drops that float towards the audience (Cuarón's seventh reveal of a new visual effect) this segment of Gravity depends almost totally on Bullock's acting for success. And successful it is! I closely studied Bullock's acting and she does a masterful job of carrying these scenes. Very nice job.
On second viewing, even Clooney has his acting moments, when there are closeups of his face as he delivers key lines. His best scenes are when he reports to Houston on the Space Shuttle destruction, and when he tells Bullock that he needs to de-tether from her. Well done! He won't win an acting Oscar for this, but he can certainly be proud of his personal acting performance.
5. Pacing/film editing. The pacing was superb - creating an extremely intense experience with well-timed "quiet moments." I am not an expert, but everything about the editing seemed to work well. ***********************
For a film where virtually every aspect was an A+, the ending of Gravity still seemed like a B on second viewing, a bit of a let-down. It wasn't terrible, though, and it did have the virtue of not lingering overly long. But it was a bit anti-climatic and arguably did not deliver the emotional impact that it should have.
Overall, I thought the emotional intensity and power of Gravity was staggering, almost rising to the level of cinematic poetry. This is a must-see film.