I rolled the pony to Georgetown this week to weigh the
gravity of Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón’s latest offering. AMC Loews
Georgetown 14 is a high end theater, to be sure. My only disappointment with
the joint is that it’s hard to sneak food in. I've got to keep it real. These
are furloughed times. While I like the neighborhood, and getting out of my own
neighborhood to see the sights, their prices for “movie food” are high as hell.
Anyway, I digress. The film, featuring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, has
considerable visual weight. Cuarón is best known for his films A Little
Princess (1995), Y Tu Mamá También (2001), Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and Children of Men (2006). Gravity represents an impressive addition to his
directorial catalog.
What the Warner Bros. Pictures will tell you is this: “Dr.
Ryan Stone (Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission,
with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney). 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.”
The Good: Admittedly, their movie synopsis is corny.
However, the visual demonstration of Gravity’s plot is not. The one
thing I can say about this movie is it will have you on the edge of your seat.
It's that thrilling. To say that the cinematography and special effects in this
film are breathtaking would be an understatement. I don't want to say too much
about the actual movie narrative, but I will say that it's a monster movie
without a monster. Disaster is the antagonist in Gravity, and arguably
space itself becomes villainous.
Bullock, as the main character, bears the bulk of the acting
weight in this movie (and that's a lot of weight with only two people in the
movie). Her work is superb. George Clooney is also quite engaging, although the
character he plays in this film, "Mr. Heroic Charm," is a character
we have seen him play many times before. His performance is good, but not
exactly a stretch.
As an aside, let me also add that it costs a little more but
see this in 3D you're be glad you did. BTW, if you decide to go that route, you
will find yourself jumping and reaching your hands out to block space debris
that only exists in the realm of your glasses. I saw a couple of people do
that, and then laugh about it. Not me, of course. I stayed cool the whole time.
(Well, actually, some of those people did look a lot like this humble film
critic, but that’s another story.)
The Bad: It’s formulaic. We know from the very beginning of
the film that all will be well in the end. There isn't much of a script. The
director relies on showing rather than telling. While I respect that big screen
thinking, it doesn't hide that fact that there isn't a whole hell of a lot
going on in the story. The movie should have been named, How in the hell
do I get home? That ordinary title just about sums up the blandness of
the script.
The Most Important Question: Is It a Good Film? Yes, and Alfonso Cuarón is a great director. This
movie will likely grow into a Sci-fi classic. It should. However, its Special
Effects and Soundtrack gave the best performances. Sadly, it wasn't the
screenplay or the actors this time.
The Rating: On a scale from 1 to 5 where 5 is a rocket ship,
Gravity gets a 3.
--MLJ
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