"You should see the Sun on the Ganges!"

Rating: 6/10 (3 March 2014)

GRAVITY is fine if you just take it for what it is: A sci-fi thriller that is watchably compelling, with a number of twists and turnabouts, but without a lot of plot depth, character development, or any of that sort of thing. It has a few stretches and improbabilities, but it's awfully hard to make a film of this sort without some of those. Comparisons have been made with 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, but GRAVITY does not begin to hold the slightest nubbin of a candle to a classic of that stature. All the same, good performances by Bullock (Dr. Ryan Stone) and Clooney ("veteran astronaut" Matt Kowalski), who are the only living characters we actually see here. Though the Earth below looks rather artificial, some nice use of gadgetry and special effects.
I put off watching GRAVITY because it looked fairly predictable. It does, however, go in some unexpected directions. Yet, the story starts a bit too late: More on the nature of the shuttle mission and the relationships between Stone, Kowalski, and the rest of the crew before the disasters strike would have added something even if it would also have complicated things. Purely a matter of taste, but I think the middle portions would have benefited from more on the angst and strange thoughts that arise while trapped alone in space and less of the constant thriller-diller stuff we have here.