Gravity

What is going on here? Three 9/10 movies in a week .. what a week of movie watching! I was struggling to decide whether or not this was an 8 or a 9 which might sound worrying but the thing is, if I'd seen it during any other week other than the one I saw Rush in, it would have been a no brainer. It's just such a different flick that I felt confused about my feelings at the end. Plus I felt like running screaming from the theatre and throwing myself on the ground and just gripping handfuls of dirt, squeezing them through my fingers and feeling them fall to the ground so close to my face!
This movie is really, really intense. I would go so far as to say I've never squirmed around in a seat so much and almost jumped up in relief as Sandra Bullock's hand finally clasps around the object she was reaching for a couple of times. The thing with this movie is that it has so many set pieces that are more powerful and more intense than you normally get one of in a standard survival movie, it takes it out of you as a viewer. Each one is not greater than the other, nor does it step them up in scale, but it doesn't need to. They feel real and believable and that makes each one that more terrifying as you the viewer hope like hell it pays off for the main character: Ryan Stone.
I guess that becomes my criticism in that, by the end of the movie I felt wrung out. The constant battle for survival and the constant stress was taking its toll and I was almost starting to lose interest for the final scenes. In a weird way I was almost happy the movie had ended so that I could escape. But, having said that, I so can't wait to watch it again!!
The other feature of the movie was the 3D. Im not a huge fan nor a hater of 3D but can really get into it when its done right. This movie does it right. From time to time the camera moves from an object spinning through space, around that object and pulls in closer on Sandra Bullock, then it goes through Sandra's helmut and spins around and suddenly YOU are in space, reaching for that object spinning out of control, all on your own, thousands of miles above the Earth slowly rotating in the background. It makes you hold your breath and your eyes feel like they are going to fall out of your head and is the most creative use of the technology since Jackass: 3D.
In line with what I said about Rush, go and see this movie in the theatre. If you are as lucky as me the screening will be sold out and the gasps, the laughs and the audible intake of breath from everyone there will serve to heighten the reality even further. This film is a real accomplishment both technically and emotionally. Alfonso Cuarón is one of the most competent filmmakers around and after displaying his brilliance in Children of Men and now Gravity, I cannot wait to see what he does next! Lets just hope it doesn't take another 7 years...
SCORE: 9/10
IMDB Info for Gravity.