Gravity!
By. William C. Walker Jr.

October 21, 2013

Gravity starts with this brief caption of what it's like in Space, and how it's impossible to live there.  Then you're hit with this extremely intense and bombastic score very similar to the way Inception started.  And like Inception this was a film that I absolutely love.

Rarely does a film that gets a ton of Oscar buzz and rave critical reviews live up to the hype.  That was apart of my mindset going into seeing the film Gravity this weekend.  I remember reading the premise, and thinking: Good grief that sounds boring.  Why in the world would I want to see that?  Yet then I saw the first trailer:

and I couldn't deny the tension it seemed to create.  Still I had my doubts.  How much enjoyment could I get from what clearly appeared to be Open Water in space?  So against my own instincts I went in, and I'm extremely glad I did.  I'm not going to get tread into Spoiler territory just give the basic plot line.  Sandra Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone an astronaut clearly on her first mission in Space.  While George Clooney plays Lieutenant Matt Kowalski a veteran astronaut on his last mission in Space.  While on a routine mission disaster strikes and these two astronauts find themselves in an impossible situation to try and survive. Bullock's and Clooney's characters are archetypes that are pretty straight-forward nor original, however Bullock and Clooney do a superb job in their performances.  

It's important because when you don't have many other characters to play off of it matters if I care about the two leads that are in the film. Both Bullock and Clooney do a great job in making me care about their characters.  When it hits the fan you find yourself cringing and gripping your seat as the beautiful carnage takes place around them.  I say beautiful because Alfonso Curaron does a masterful job and directing this film.  If he isn't nominated for an Oscar (let alone the favorite) it'd be a bigger crime than Affleck's snub from last year.  There are shots in this movie that are flat out gorgeous to be hold, but the favorite move he uses is this intense P.O.V. perspective he displays from Sandra Bullock's character.  It literally transports you into her shoes and this madness is happening around her.  But it's not in this dizzying Paul Greengrass kind of way that makes you motion sick and you question as to what's happening?  I could literally probably write pages on how much I loved this movie, but people say I write too long, so I'll keep it brief.  At one point Bullock's character remarks about a Hell of a Ride, and though you may not see from the previews that's indeed what you're in for when you see Gravity.  I don't know if it's because my expectations where tempered due to all the praise, but I'm happy that it was proven to be well deserved.