Space Hype !

Rating: 4/10 (4 January 2014)

In visual terms "Gravity" is overwhelming with those images of the Earth. The infinity and immensity of the universe is beautifully put into the picture . The insignificance of man in this intolerable environment gives you a constant tightness . However, I think that you only get that overwhelming feeling when you watch this movie in the cinema. On a normal LCD TV in the living room there's not much left of this space spectacle. And that's quite a damper on the expected experience because the story on its own isn't really that much of a deal. I think it's a great achievement to create such an entertaining film with this simple story and only two characters constantly on the screen.
I sat almost the entire movie on the edge of the sofa cause of the tension. The movie has a surprisingly fast pace. It's one situation after the other . But if you omit the stunning CGI and forget about the probably impressive 3D images , there remains nothing else than a boring tedious blockbuster. And they made such a big fuss about it. A big hype over nothing, my guess. Reading roughly through the remarks at IMDb I'm not the only one with that idea. I also found it disturbing that someone can be so unlucky in just one day . Chronologically all this happens: the shuttle gets hit by debris resulting in some casualties and one person (Bullock) floating in space, she's picked up again by Clooney , but is almost without oxygen , with his thruster pack they go on their way to the ISS , they smash into it and Clooney releases himself heroically to rescue Bullock, almost choking she enters the ISS , a fire breaks out and she has to disconnect the Soyuz , the Soyuz gets tangled to a parachute, the ISS is destroyed by debris , the Soyuz has no fuel , Bullock uses the burners for landing, she reaches the Chinese space station using a fire extinguisher , goes into the atmosphere , and even though she doesn't understand Chinese she lands safely by randomly pressing the right buttons. That's not enough though. She almost drowns also after the landing . It wouldn't be a surprise she'll never ever join a space trip again in her life.
Although the two main actors are not the least , they can't make the film look better. Sandra Bullock didn't convince me as being a scientist with high intellect . She looked more like a Miss America who won a space trip . Clooney was so extremely charming and gallant in space. I expected every moment that he would serve a delicious Nespresso. And then realizing that the making of this empty movie needed $ 100 million. They could have made a few better movies with that kind of money. And I won't mention the technical and scientific impossibilities as they are described by a NASA expert on Wikipedia. But OK, otherwise it would be a even more boring and dead serious flick .And it should be entertaining, not ? Unlike many other spectators, I didn't think the moment where Ryan starts barking and howling like a dog was ridiculous or silly.For me it was rather a touching moment.
Conclusion : a gem in imaging, but as space itself , it is an airless story. It feels more like a black hole.