It’s been a while since I have gotten excited for a movie because of the trailer, especially for something novel like Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity”. Some previews may have created ambivalence over the idea of watching Sandra Bullock drifting alone through the emptiness of space as if that was what the entire movie was going to be about, but what should have caught everyone’s attention were the few minutes of trailers that showed the complete annihilation of the Hubble space telescope with the most realistic space physics I have ever seen in a movie. Because of this, I knew this movie was going to be great, and after finally watching it, I was not disappointed.
Sandra Bullock plays a medical engineer named Ryan Stone who, along with George Clooney as Matt Kowalski, an actual astronaut, is on a NASA mission to make repairs to the Hubble space telescope. In the middle of the installation, the team is suddenly in danger of on-coming space junk that destroys the telescope and their ship back to earth, leaving Sandra Bullock stranded in the vacuum of space.
There are other background details that give depth to Sandra Bullock, but other than that, the story is as simple as that. It is this simplicity; however, this gives the movie its depth. The main point of this movie was to instill terror and fear and to give an experience of the isolation and hopelessness in outer space. Because the rest of the film focuses solely on one character and one goal, any more plot devices would have over complicated the film and diluted the film’s purpose.
What really makes this movie stick out to me is how much detail went into the animation of the space crafts, the characters and the space physics. Watching objects fly around in a zero- g environment is enough in itself to excite me, though. Also, a closer inspection of the Hubble telescope would show the design they used was made to look like the real thing, down to the last solar panel. Another major aspect the movie acknowledges is the inability for sound to travel in space. Because of this, most of the sound from the movie comes from the music of Steven Price. With simple yet exhilarating motifs, the score manages to reflect the tension that the movie embodies.
While not everybody is going to think about space physics while watching this movie and pick out every small detail that was added to the Hubble telescope, it was probably the most real feeling part of the movie. The story serves its purpose in creating the suspense and drama and engaging the viewer, but in contrast to the realness of their situation, the character’s ability to survive in some of the scenes detracted from the experience.
Other than that, the movie achieves what it sets out to do and, overall, creates a thrilling and unparalleled experience, and if I say anymore, I’m afraid I’ll ruin it. I highly recommend watching it.
