Oh dear, a bit of a disappointment

Rating: 5/10 (13 October 2013)

I was looking forward to this movie but I have to say that I went away somewhat disappointed. Sure the special effects are great and the elements of suspense are certainly there in the situation, but I began to feel disaffected quite early in the movie. To identify why, I had to compare it with another, really enjoyable, space movie, Apollo 13. To me, the characters in Gravity are really not plausible as people who would be likely to come through the astronaut training program. Right from the start you see them indulging in irresponsible behaviour outside the spacecraft, and disobeying orders.Their training seems patchy to say the least. Then one of them (Bullock's character) turns out to have a major personal issue they have not dealt with. That's my gripes with the characters. Then in terms of the story development, there is absolutely no let up in disasters. Explosion effects are piled on explosion effects, and one thing fails after another. Sure a number of things went wrong in Apollo 13, but it's all a lot more low-key. I started to feel somewhat burnt out by the whole situation in Gravity and when at one stage Bullock's character decides to close her eyes and just die, I had to say I thought it was the most appropriate action! A final beef is that I doubted the authenticity of the way the laws of physics are depicted with the interaction of bodies in space - I'm pleased to see that others have taken issue with this too. So in brief I found the whole thing implausible and irritating. Bullock was fine in her part : the photography of her face is in no way flattering throughout, although the gym-toned body she reveals when she shucks her spacesuit, is quite impressive. The film had well and truly lost me before then however. I should give it a 6 out of 10 for watchability but because my disappointment has left me bitter and twisted I'll rate it only 5.