Space is beautiful and frightening

Rating: 8/10 (21 January 2016)

Sound: 2/2 - Stephen Price's music is alternately nightmarish and euphoric between lulls.
Acting/Characterization: 1.5/2 - George Clooney is, well, Clooneyesque, but Sandra Bullock shows palpable emotion. It's easy to root for her character as a fellow human being, despite her seeming incompetence as an astronaut.
Script/Writing: 0.5/2 - The script is uninspired, peppered with unfunny anecdotes, clichéd backstories, and inarticulate fretting, but it wisely avoids pretentious meditation on the meaning of it all for a few poignant moments of the heroine quailing in the face of death.
Visuals: 2/2 - Impeccably shot, Gravity is stunning from start to finish. Objects move with geometric beauty, while Earth is a vivid, distant dream.
Concept (Plot/Theme): 1.5/2 - The threat of space debris is wonderfully mundane and realistic, but everything that follows the initial catastrophe requires some suspension of disbelief as survival becomes increasingly improbable. Still, the film adeptly captures the minuscule fragility of human existence.
Total Score: 7.5/10
Gut Feeling: 8/10 - While I wondered how her character qualified for a space mission in the first place, Bullock delivers a moving performance in an immersive film that is worth seeing for the cinematography alone.
Final Average Score: 7.75