Underwhelmed

Rating: 7/10 (5 October 2013)

When I was 12 I saw the first 3-D movie, Bwana Devil. When I was 26 I sat front row center to see 2001 in Cinerama. From the first reviews of Gravity I was hoping for another quantum leap in viewing experience. I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong - I thought the CGI was perfect, the 3-D wonderful and the acting excellent. However, in between 2001 and Gravity I've experienced 3-D on a my home theater screen, including several IMAX NASA films. As a result, to me Gravity felt more like a documentary. I couldn't really get involved with the characters. It didn't help that the director often mistook mass for weight. In space you're weightless but still retain your mass. No one could maintain a grip under some of the situations shown. And the debris field was much too selective. Even a piece the size of a penny would destroy anything in its path. Multiple collisions such as described would produce a cloud of particles that would be impossible to escape. As a result of these mistakes much of the tension was lost on me. My disappointment is that a really good film could have been a great one.