Hostile environment

Rating: Null/10 (15 November 2014)

When something comes out of space to threaten someone in the movies, it's usually a gigantic object ('Armageddon') or an alien invasion ('Independence Day'). 'Gravity' tells us about tiny objects, space debris with an average size of less than an inch, that's a very clever idea to start with. And it's not the whole planet that needs to be saved, only 2 people have to find a possibility how to get safely back on the ground, that's all! Less definitely means more in this case, because when they spend the majority of the budget on the special effects, it's exceptional that the human characters remain in the centre of our attention. The show never gets into the foreground, all the spectacular sights merely provide the background for the 2 actors. In opposite to 'Silent Running', it doesn't hit you with a message, either. It's entertainment and very well made, even if, as some previous reviewers pointed out (I need not repeat the same points here), some physics are dodgy, but a list of technically completely accurate sci-fi flicks would be very short. The makers of 'Gravity' succeeded in making outer space a convincing, hostile environment. But in the first place, 'Gravity' stands out from many soulless sci-fi flicks due to its human qualities. Surely not a movie to be forgotten easily, I'll probably remember it like 'Oh yes, the movie with the 2 astronauts drifting in space'.