Thoughts on: Gravity


The Good:

Gravity is the most visually breathtaking movie I've ever seen. It is exactly the kind of movie that the 3D effect was meant for, and is absolutely worth seeing on a big screen and in 3D. It wouldn't nearly have the same effect at home in 2D. The technical brilliance of the film lends itself perfectly to its main aim: immersion. My experience involved a racing heart, white knuckles gripping my chair for dozens of minutes on end, and praying for the tension to be over. And of course as soon as it calmed down, I couldn't wait for it to ramp up again. The music fit perfectly with this, punctuated at just the right times with the utter silence of space.

The silence had a surprisingly huge effect on the action as well – after being desensitized to most of the explosions in movies these days, to see it happen in 100% silence was extremely eerie and intense. The complete lack of gravity added to this as well – nothing moved like I expected it to, and suddenly every situation had its own set of completely new and interesting hurdles the characters needed to overcome. The story was simple, and that was all it needed to be, however it didn't come without baggage...

The Bad Minor Problems:

When presented with a simple narrative and very little dialogue, every spoken word becomes that much more important. Unfortunately it seems like the writers decided this meant they had to cram as much meaning and explanation into every sentence as possible. While I can forgive the need for the astronauts to spell out plot points so that the audience can keep up, trying to add a layer of emotional development on top of it made it all sound very on-the-nose. This was made worse near the end when rather than Sandra Bullock’s actions communicating her emotional state, we instead got dialogue simply telling us. Another problem caused by the dialogue was when it caused weird pauses in the action. While technically plausible, they were questionable enough to damage my immersion – not ideal for a movie like “Gravity”, where immersion is the be-all and end-all.

This happened again with (avoiding spoilers) a certain plot point involving a fire. Almost everything in the movie is a natural consequence of a single disaster, and it flowed brilliantly because of it. But then at one point I found myself rolling my eyes at what seemed to be far too convenient a fire, that could very easily have fit into the larger context if the writers had spent another 30 seconds on it.

These are minor gripes however, in what is otherwise a superb movie. “Gravity” is original, beautiful and intense, and would entertain essentially everyone.

9/10


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