Gravity

So I might as well save y’all some time: yes, Gravity is as good as everyone says.

It’s been a long wait between drinks for Alfonso Cuarón (you know, if feature films were ‘drinks’) considering that Children of Men was back in 2006, but you can rest assured that it was worth the wait. Gravity sees astronauts Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) on a routine spacewalk when something goes horribly, horribly wrong. Before you can say, “Was it the door?”, the prospect of dying alone in the silent vacuum of space becomes a horrible possibility for our two heroes.

It’s like a version of Apollo 13 where you don’t know the ending; that’s really all you need know about the plot. Suffice to say that this is the very definition of edge-of-your-seat entertainment, and there’s not a second wasted during the brisk 91 minute running time. Clooney plays…well, Clooney. But it’s hard not to like the man. Bullock, however, is on top form, and if you didn’t think her turn in The Blind Side was worthy of an Oscar, this may be more your style.

A masterpiece of filmmaking, the entire film comprises very few shots. I didn’t count, but I would have thought the shot count could be as low as 25, and there are a number of super-long vertiginous shots that have the camera moving in impressively impossible ways. Of course, none of this would be possible if not for the stunning visual effects work. I can safely say that Gravity presents us with the best possible effects available in 2013. There are a couple of moments where it feels like you’re watching floating heads on CGI spacesuits (though nowhere near as bad as the same moments in Green Lantern) and I can’t promise that the film won’t look shonky in 30 years’ time, but as it stands now, Gravity is a marvellous achievement in visual effects.

This film was so good, so engrossing, so impressive, that the couple of moments where it fumbled really stood out. One involved Bullock getting her kit off, which was a little gauche, considering how similar it looked to Jane Fonda’s striptease in Barbarella 45 years ago. The moment really took me out of the film. The other problem simply concerned the stereotypical nature of the two characters, who fall into pretty traditional gender categories.

It may seem like nit-picking, but Gravity is so close to perfect that it’s frustrating. Nevertheless, ‘almost perfect’ should still sound like decent viewing to most people. I saw the 2D version but by all accounts the 3D version is excellent. Gravity is definitely the must-see film of 2013.