Untapped Potential Makes For an Average Movie

Rating: 5/10 (2 June 2015)

Going into Gravity I had high hopes. Its got good reviews, a great metascore, several awards, etc. How could I not expect something great?
The movie wasn't amazing. It was completely overrated in my point of view. Sure, the CGI was great (even on DVD), the characters likable, the acting well-done and all that stuff, but I felt like all this could have been better.
The characters had so much potential, but were never fully explored. Sure, there was a bit of back story for Ryan Stone, but not nearly as much for Matt Kowalski. Still, Ryan's back story wasn't enough to warrant any real or deep character development. They felt somewhat forced at times, which really took away from it. You may say that this was a movie made for its visuals, but the fact that it still tried to put character development in made me feel like it certainly wasn't trying to make itself all about the visuals.
The acting was quite average, if you ask me. Lots of hyperventilating, but otherwise it didn't stand out to me as much as other acting has (ex. Brad Pitt from Twelve Monkeys). The characters were well- executed, but it wasn't an absolutely brilliant performance or anything.
Gravity is a movie of constant tension and suspense, and yet I never felt that Ryan was in any real danger. It was fairly obvious that she would survive, and towards the end I felt like she was doing certain things simply to create conflict, no matter how minor. A lot of tension material was recycled throughout the movie as well. I'm sure that this is realistic, but it felt very unoriginal eventually.
Overall, Gravity had so much potential. The characters seemed to be the driving force of the movie over the story (it wasn't a particularly interesting or deep story), and yet that potential never felt like it was truly tapped into. In the end, it was really just an average movie, but could have been far better. Its worth watching if your interested, but that's about it for this movie.