Revolutionary.

Rating: 9/10 (10 January 2014)

Spanish director Alfonso Cuaron returns, pushing the technological boundaries within cinema in his box office smash hit Gravity. Cuaron's already impressive filmography which contains films like Children of Men and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, perhaps has its most impressive creation. This film demands to be seen in 3D, something which I didn't think I'd ever be saying.
Veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) and novice medical engineer Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), are carrying out a technical mission in space when disaster hits and the accumulative debris of many destroyed satellites, kills their colleagues and destroys their shuttle. Adrift in space where nothing can carry sound and it's impossible to live, the two must work together and overcome their inner demons in order to survive.
The undoubtedly mind blowing special effects and the technical ambition and mastery of the whole production, are of course Gravity's main assets. Massively entertaining and engaging set-pieces in which destructive debris storms wreak havoc, are unlike anything ever witnessed in the history of cinema. What was so impressive about these set-pieces though, was the way that director Alfonso Cuaron chose to handle them. A lesser director of big box office films such as Michael Bay would've chosen to ignore the fact that sound doesn't carry in space, in favour of creating a film with loud and overblown action set- pieces. However, in the very capable hands of cerebral director Alfonso Cuaron, this scientific fact isn't ignored and is instead, used to magnify the suspense and horror of these explosions, that occur under a foreboding backdrop of unsettling silence. Steven Price's suspenseful score and the 3D technology are further tools utilised by Cuaron, to create this jaw dropping horror story.
Sandra Bullock gives the best performance of her career in the lead role, conveying the sad and disconnected nature of Ryan Stone well. She also reacts in a convincing manner, as a person faced with an inconceivably horrifying situation. Co-star George Clooney was a perfect casting choice and is able to lend his charmed personality to the role of the chatty and enthusiastic veteran Matt Kowalski, with inconsummate ease. Keeping with the theme of great casting choices, the decision to cast Ed Harris as the voice of mission control was a nice heads up to the similarities between Gravity and space survival thriller Apollo 13, which Harris starred in.
Gravity is very easy to view from a thematic standpoint, as the film is essentially one long allegory. The emptiness and isolation of being in outer space is meant to be a reflection of the emptiness and isolation in lead character Ryan Stone's life on Earth, which she carries as a result of her very traumatic past. George Clooney's chatty astronaut Matt Kowalski is a representation of your everyday person, getting on with and enjoying life. It is this sort of influence that Ryan needs to give her the will to survive and return to Earth. The basic message of the film is that life must continue no matter what tragedy you've encountered in the past.
However, for all of the high praise that Gravity deserves, there are some underlying problems with the film. Despite being better than initially expected, the writing is nowhere near the quality of the writing in the other excellent films that Gravity has been bracketed with in the lead up to the major awards ceremonies. Brilliant writing and memorable dialogue are essential factors in determining whether a film is a classic or not and while Gravity has a better script than most blockbusters, the writing needs to be better in parts. Furthermore, the film lulls a bit in between its spectacular action set-pieces and this partly derives from the fact that some of the writing isn't quite engaging enough to fully sustain the audience's attention.
Ultimately, Gravity is a revolutionary survival horror blockbuster, whose impact will be as keenly felt in the future as that of masterpiece The Matrix. Its two strong lead performances and refreshingly short run time largely help to overcome the problem of a script that isn't up to the scratch of 2013′s other exceptional films. However, Gravity more than earns its place among these elite efforts.