Genre: Drama| Sci-Fi | Thriller

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Writers: Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón

Cast: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Synopsis:

Sandra Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone–tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness.The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth…and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left.

But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/ufsrgE0BYf0[/youtube]

I saw this movie two weeks ago and I can’t stop thinking about it. It is harrowing. Exhausting. Amazing. Thrilling. Overwhelmingly intense. And, I must warn you, relentlessly nauseating if you are at all prone to motion sickness. The kind of motion sickness some people get in virtual reality rides like Star Tours, or in dome IMAX theaters. Because this is that, throughout almost the entire movie. Eat your popcorn during the trailers, kids, don’t save any for the show. Or maybe don’t eat anything at all.

The effect is a result of the absolutely stunning visual innovations that were created for the movie. In spite of my warnings, do not miss the chance to see this in 3D. The 3D in Gravity is unlike any you’ve seen before. It isn’t the “oh look, that flower looks closer” or even “yikes that spear is coming right at me!” It is all-encompassing. At one point when I was getting particularly queasy, I took away the glasses so that I could watch without them, and hopefully feel a little more grounded. And no, that’s not an ironic use of the word. As it happens, watching without the 3D glasses was a hopeless idea. The 3D is so infused into the production that without the glasses it looks like a lot of bright visual noise, and nothing else. That‘s how saturated the 3D is.

And that saturation really brings the viewer into the movie. I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what it would feel like to be in space, or at least as close as I’m going to get. There are times when we see what Ryan (Sandra Bullock‘s character) sees through her visor, and it isn’t crystal clear. It wouldn’t be, would it? The way objects bounce off each other. Off of Ryan. The spinning. The floating. It remains vivid for me, weeks later.

But Gravity is more than the effects, and the story is more than will-they-or-won’t-they-survive. It took me a while to realize it, but there is a mental and emotional journey that we observe, and by being so drawn into the movie, it is one that we experience ourselves. George Clooney plays (what we think of as) himself perfectly, but wow, Sandra Bullock is a wonderment. Reportedly she went through a great deal when shooting the film; that it was an emotional, mental, and physical trial, given the contraptions she had to work in. Whether that was an aid to her work or not, you won’t doubt that Ryan is terrified and exhausted, and we are right there with her. We are also with her in other mental and emotional states, but no spoilers here.

The visual effects of this movie are enough to give it a 5 of 5 rating, really, but with the addition of a satisfying storyline and an impeccable, otherworldly performance, I’d give it a galaxy of stars if I could. Alas, the rules here don’t allow for that. Suffice to say, go see this movie, now, before you get spoiled, and for your own sake as well as the movie’s and everyone involved in its production, see it in 3D.

I give Gravity Five Out of Five Stars.