3D or Not... Either Way Gravity Is Going To Be One Hell of An Experience.

Rating: Null/10 (14 October 2013)

Surpassing all hype & expectations with finesse, exhibiting excellence in nearly all aspects of filmmaking & making exceptional use of its third dimension, Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity is a cinematic spacewalk of jaw-dropping beauty, wonder & amazement that not only succeeds as one of the best films of its year but is a marvel of technical filmmaking that pushes the cinematic art form to new realms while also marking a huge leap for VFX in cinema.
Set in space, Gravity tells the story of mission specialist Ryan Stone aboard a NASA space shuttle on her very first assignment which is being supervised by a veteran astronaut out on his final mission. Disaster strikes when the high-speed debris of a defunct satellite destroys their spaceship, thus leaving the two stranded in space with nothing but each other. Rest of the story focuses on Stone's journey as she finds hope & will to survive in the face of imminent death.
Co-written & directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity presents the notable filmmaker at the very peak of his so-far-illustrious career for he's taken a simple setting of a catastrophe, applied it in space, refined it with precision detailing & accurate science, intertwined each aspect with liberal arts and finally encapsulated the whole picture with the third dimension to provide a breathtaking experience of sheer awe & astonishment while the core content also deals with the themes of loss, isolation, resilience, mortality & rebirth in a concise manner.
Coming to the technical aspects, Gravity is a triumph in every department. Starting with Cinematography, Emmanuel Lubezki's camera-work introduces some new inventions in 3D photography and employs the long, continuous & unbroken single takes with sublime effectiveness to immerse the viewers into its world. And with the help of its fluid movements & contrasting shots, which seamlessly blends the warm imagery of Earth with bleakness of the rest of space, also does a fab job in narrating the plot visually.
Editing trims the whole narrative down to 90 minutes which is expertly paced although there are a few moments in the middle when it feels like hitting a snag but that's only for a short duration & doesn't really hurt the whole experience. The silence of outer space does serve as accurate science to a considerable extent but it never stopped Steven Price to come up with a spectacular score that ultimately turned this already effective thriller into an absolute nightmare of escalating terror with its loud, intense & unsparing tracks.
Apart from its two actors, almost everything in this film is computer-generated and yet the crisp images retain such high degree of realism with its authentic depiction of zero gravity, spacewalks, explosions along with geographic view of Earth, solar reflections & many other elements that it further signifies the careful attention with which the whole production was carried out and on an overall scale marks a huge step for VFX in cinema. Add to that, even the Sound aspect is nicely taken care of & exists only where it needs to.
As far as performances go, there are only two characters we interact with in this narrative, actually one for the majority of its runtime. Now I'm not a fan of Sandra Bullock yet here I was quite enamoured by her vulnerable character who goes through plethora of emotions ranging from fear, frustration & hopelessness to rediscovered resilience, willingness to live & eventual spiritual reincarnation. Supporting her briefly is George Clooney in a tailor-made role that also provided little comic relief in what is an unforgiving & harrowing depiction of life in vacuum.
Throughout its runtime, Gravity also pays tribute to a number of space classics, including Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ridley Scott's Alien, Ron Howard's Apollo 13 & surprisingly Pixar's WALLE as well. Although it is heavily influenced from many disaster films of the past, the very experience it provides, especially in 3D, is unlike anything put on screen before. The third dimension really adds a great amount of depth to its premise while amplifying the rest of the elements, thus turning it into something that feels all the more special & personal.
On an overall scale, Gravity is a fascinating blend of cinematic art & big-screen spectacle that qualifies as the finest film of its year, is the closest we've come to experiencing outer space on silver screen, and is an incredibly riveting thriller that's totally worth your time & money. Outstandingly directed, finely written, brilliantly performed, cleverly edited, briskly paced, gorgeously photographed, magnificently scored & skilfully balancing all its elements from start to finish, Gravity is as rewarding an experience emotionally as it is viscerally, is deserving of all the praise it has garnered to date & is a must-watch on the biggest screen possible.