Gravity - Movie Review

Starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.
Directed by Alfonso Cuaron.

★★★★

It amazes me that Sandra Bullock wasn't the first choice for this role. Other actresses had been attached here and there but dropped out. I say that because this seems like an opportunity that every actress in Hollywood would kill for. Bullock is the #1 female star right now, and this role just gives her the chance to show us still why.

And while her acting's really good, Cuaron is her equal. He's directed varied projects (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Children of Men, Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban), but this puts him in front-runner status for Best Director. He's taken the medium of film and reminded us all what it can do. It actually reminds me of the tricky job last year's winner had (Life of Pi's Ang Lee).

I saw this in IMAX 3-D, and that's really the way to experience this. As big a screen as possible so we too can get lost in space.

The plot isn't too complex. Anything that can go wrong does go wrong in this walk in space, and two astronauts find themselves trapped 600 miles above the Earth.  Clooney is the co-star, but there are large amounts of time where Bullock is isolated and alone, doing her best to remember her training as she tries to figure out how to survive in scenarios too fantastical for Houston to think up worst-case.

If you're one of the few who hasn't seen it, do yourself a favor and see it on the big-screen. Watching it on your tablet in six months just won't do it justice.