MOVIE REVIEW:
GRAVITY
By:
G.P. Manalo
Directed By:
Alfonso Cuarón
Starring:
Sandra Bullock
George Clooney
I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut when I
was a kid, but after seeing this movie – not anymore (better yet re-think about
that career). A film like Gravity can
do that to you; this film shows the utter terror, the isolation, the sound of
silence or basically every fear of going to space as an astronaut. It is shown
very well in this movie through the “out of this world” visuals (I’m pretty
sure you knew I was going to say that at one point of this review), the writing
and even Alfonso Cuarón’s direction.
But most of all, it is because of the performances of the two actors, Sandra
Bullock and George Clooney in this roller coaster thrill ride.
In
Gravity, a Medical Engineer, Dr. Ryan Stone along with a crew of astronauts was
assigned to repair a satellite above earth. But when a horrific accident occurs,
it damaged their space shuttle heavily leaving her and a veteran astronaut,
Matt Kowalski working together to survive the impossible.
The
film is very much “direct” at what it does as a film; it is very much minimal
(straightforward) in a good way. It wasn’t like Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey nor is it like Moon where it is very much a deeply told film where it is layers
upon layers of elements that make you think. It doesn’t take time to establish
the characters neither, The film begins with a few lines of dialogue and then
goes on to the destructive scenes we keep seeing in the trailers (I suggest you
only see the first one, the rest shows too much) and yet the experience
surprises me, I’ve barely knew a thing about these characters in the first
place and me along with a theatre full of people are actually rooting for the
characters to actually get out of these stomach-churning situations.
It
could be because of the visuals in this movie, the kinds of visuals in this
film are something you could see in a James Cameron film where it is very much
realistic, a blend of both practical and computer generated effects. I’ve read
somewhere (it was a reddit post if I can remember) that this film was almost
impossible to be even made years back because the kind of technology he needed
barely exists. Whatever technology they used for the visuals is definitely a
game changing technology. The visuals helped the environment feel believable,
making the experience better. The attention to detail is quite admirable from
the beautiful view of the planet earth, the starry skies of outer space, to the
destructive debris of destroyed space shuttles. I would’ve loved to experience
this in IMAX 3D (but the IMAX theatre near me is still in its digital
conversion), it may have been a treat to see it in that format.
In the screening i went to, there were shrieks and even the occasional "ay puta!" from the audience. It puts me and the audience in a sense of "what will happen next?". The effects gave little details and they were very much enhanced with the cinematography, putting the action right at the audience. There was this one particular scene that featured the subject witnessing the debris and the wires just shifting onto them and the entire time everything was silent, there was the very presence of explosions but no sound could be heard since they are in space. Little details like that makes the inner science geek (whom I have met until now) giddy. Cuaron definitely gives the audience an experience that the audience has probably not seen before.
But
the element that really put this film in its true potential is the performances
of the two leads. I’ve always thought that Sandra Bullock should be in movies
where she can really give her all (dramas or thrillers) than in romantic
comedies or comedies in general (granted, she is great in those kind of films).
From her performance in this film, it really gives a lot of emphasis to every
traumatizing situation in this film, and her performance is definitely Oscar
worthy for this film. George Clooney on the other hand was more of a device for
Sandra Bullock’s character to remain calm in order to contain her will to make
it through the impossible scenario. Clooney’s calm and reassuring character
worked well for his performance as some people (even I myself) find him to be
fitting in this kind of role.
In
the end, I tried to rack my brain to know what I didn’t like about Gravity. This film is hands down the
smartest sci-fi film we have this year I admire its simplicity in the writing
and direction very much as it is enhanced with state of the art visuals, and Oscar
worthy performances. I highly recommend you see this in the biggest screen
possible, according to a friend of mine “see this with the extra stuff (3D,
IMAX, D-BOX, what have you), it is definitely worth the price of admission”.
THE GOOD:
+ SIMPLISTIC STORYTELLING
+EXCELLENT PERFORMANCES
+OUT OF THIS WORLD VISUALS
+WELL PACED
THE BAD:
-NONE
MY
RATING:
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