Gravity - Review and Discussion Thread

Spoiler: Gravity

I was a bit thrown too and started to wonder if a person could really survive momentary exposure to space and/or would the movie actually fudge something like that. Then I thought it might be all in her head, so when that turned out to be the case I wasn't surprised.

 

And the scariest part of the movie?

Spoiler: Gravity

When she almost drowned in her space suit at the end.

Then it looked like she might get caught in the weeds.

 

Went over to the Carmike Six in Nacogdoches last night, caught the last 3D show of the night. Had the back row all to myself, too.

Freakin' awesome movie!

I wish I could have gotten to see it in an IMAX-ish screen, but the closest one is in Louisiana, so that ain't gonna happen.

I'd like to see it again, but that won't really be an option, either, since I have to pay for movies these days.

 

Fantastic movie. I went in not really knowing what to expect, since the trailers basically made it look like we'd get one initial action sequence at the beginning, and then just... 90 minutes of Sandra Bullock slowly floating away in space. Lol

But clearly that was only the beginning of the character's problems. The way the movie kept coming up with new and unexpected challenges for her was pretty inspired, especially with how much of it resulted from simple physics and the difficulty that comes from trying to maneuver in space.

Although.... as others have suggested, it does start to seem a bit ridiculous towards the end. As thrilling and intense as the movie is, in the back of your mind you do start to wonder just what the odds are of all these crazy things happening to one person, or the likelihood of her surviving each one the way she does. By the time she nearly drowns upon crashing back to Earth, you're thinking "Really?? You couldn't let her have that one victory?" And the way the satellite debris kept destroying every place she visited was a bit much as well (I almost expected it to come raining down on her before she could make it to the beach!)

I really wish the director had cut back on at least a few of those sequences, and made the movie seem a bit less like the typical, overblown Hollywood disaster movie.

 

Gravity isn't the sort of film you can spoil. The ending kind of choreographs itself over the previous hour.

What's great about Gravity besides the impeccable visuals which are the best representation of 0g physics I've ever seen, is how it gives you the feeling of the uninhabitability of space and the helplessness of the astronauts.

I didn't think it was weird for the debris to destroy every place she went to, considering the orbit of the debris was such to cross that area every 90 minutes.

 

I loved how the camera could zoom in from hundreds of feet, move around the various stations in one continuous shot and even move in behind Bullock's helmet visor to give us her point of view then move back out into space again.

 

Saw it again today and it was better this time because the sound was better in the theater. Yes, I know, but what I mean is I could actually everything being said this time.

Still A+, still awe-inspiring visuals.

 

Still, I consider "She doesn't make it", "She makes it" or "She turns into a monkey" to be spoilers.

 

A+.

To answer the parental question: I would probably be okay with taking an 8 year old (see below), but definitely wouldn't take an 8 year old to an IMAX showing because of the decibel levels. If I did, I'd definitely skip the trailers; I dunno about any other theaters, but the Captain Phillips one is insanely loud, like jet engine loud. I went to a Rancid concert a few weeks ago and stood in front a speaker for three hours--that trailer is at least 20% louder than that.

As for content, there's a

Spoiler: Gravity

part where Ryan Stone turns over one of the dead astronauts to reveal a hypervelocity debris-sized hole in his head. Is gnarly, but less gory than you might expect because he's already frozen (although this is, I understand, a science error). I'd warn the kid about that.

It's also really intense throughout, but age 8 is a good time to not be a weenie.

At 90 minutes, it's about 88 minutes of just perfection in about everything: cinematography, VFX, acting, and I didn't mind that script wasn't super-subtle about what it was about, until:

Spoiler: Gravity

That hallucination is one of the worst things I've seen in 2013, and I've seen about 45 theatrically released movies this year. It does not break the movie--I still give it an effectively perfect score--but it is genuinely awful. First, because it's an intrusion of subjectivity into a purely objective film. Second, the Robot Devil told the audience what he was feeling with more nuance. Third, it just covers again what they told us about ten times already. I don't need to be told that she is sad because her daughter is dead; I think that can be assumed. I was pleased when early reviews said the movie was devoid of flashbacks, gauzy or otherwise, but man, that actually would have been better.

And don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the melodrama in general--just not that part.

I'm also not getting the Cast Away comparison everybody is making, other than the really general similarities (sure, they're in the same genre). Cast Away involves isolation and threat of death, sure, but it lasts for like three years. Further, Tom Hanks had a life, which was destroyed a little more every day he was on that island, and when he did finally return, he returned to nothing, and probably with serious trauma-induced mental illness. He was finished as the man he had been.

By contrast, Ryan Stone is in peril for about four and a half hours, and doesn't have anything to live for in the first place, but struggles anyway--that's the point of Gravity. They're practically opposite stories.

 

Gravity

My GRade: A+

---------------------------

In a word: a nearly flawless movie.

Gravity stars Sandra Bullock as an astronaut on a shuttle mission to upgrade the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, during repairs it seems the Russians attempt to shoot down/deorbit one of their satellites but this results in a large debris field that takes out communication satellites and is sweeping through orbit. It eventually reaches the shuttle Explorer while Bullock, George Clooney and astronaut red shirt are on their space walk. The debris field takes out the shuttle and sends Bullock tumbling in to orbit without a tether, eventually she is rescued by Cloooney (in a Manned Maneuvering Unit/jetpack) and the two make plans to try and save themselves using escape rockets on the International Space Station.

The movie is certainly a visceral experience depicting the utter hopelessness and lack of control over yourself in space, at the whims of gravity and momentum. Bullock rocks her role as a first-time astronaut (near as I can gather a mission specialist with only months of training) and Clooney rocks his role as a space veteran (near as I can tell on his final mission.)

The movie has some problems when it comes to the real world (mostly in the positions of the satellites and space stations) but by and large -near as I can tell- gets everything right. You really feel the gravity (pun intended) of the situation and the challenges the character face as their troubles go on.

There's one or two niggling plot contrivances/tropes used and it has a fairly typical use of the disaster movie trope of the characters always seeming to be moments away from utter disaster and doom but the way the movie plays out makes these problems very minor ones. A very, very good experience of a movie. I saw in 3D and the visuals and effects are superb, marvel as we see a tear fall from Bullock's eye enter weightlessness and bobble, bubble, and spin towards the camera.

Subtle but wonderful score, great visuals and effects and the first movie I've seen in a long time that has me wondering how it was filmed and achieved.

Highly recommended, especially in 3D.

After the end of the movie? Needless to say modern society has taken a pretty huge dent due to the loss of the satellite network as well as our time in space.

 

I thought this was a really good film. An amazing visual treat, one I wish I could have seen on an IMAX screen. Cuaron really knows how to film a movie and space comes alive her. I also appreciate the 90-minute run time and that Cuaron didn't feel the need to inflate the run time.

Sandra Bullock was very good and definitely carried the movie. I don't know about Oscar good though. It takes a while for her character to get going, pretty much grunting and breathing her way through the beginning of the movie. And I agree that she spoke too much after Clooney was gone. Clooney was good as always but he was basically playing George Clooney as an astronaut.

I have to say that the audience I saw it with was packed and have a young and old and diverse group of people. This film definitely has broad appeal.

 

I had a great time -- even though Bullock's acting chops (and the script, honestly) weren't up to those two monologues she gives in the final 30 minutes.

 

Went and saw it again tonight Still awesome. The cinema wasn't full, but the NRL grand final, I knew it wouldn't be. Anyways, seemed to be a quarter full. I love the scenes around the ISS. This is one blu-ray I'm gonna get in the 3D version, as I want to see how everything was done with. And I have no idea how it was done.

 

The long-term consequences of what is implied by this movie are pretty staggering. The Russians are, at a minimum, responsible for the deaths of four astronauts; the destruction of a space shuttle, the ISS, and Tiangong; and, from the looks of it, the gutting of a massive chunk of the global satellite network, with unknown and potentially massive consequences for the future of communications and other satellite technology; and, from the final images, possibly massive amounts of debris falling to the surface of the planet causing unknown destruction. The US, China, and the European Union must be pissed off.

 

Leave it to the Russians to cause a catastrophe.

 

I loved the film. I saw it in 2-D with my lady.
I think I will try to see it in 3-D sometime in the next 2 weeks. Very impressed with this film. No laser guns sci-fi in space. Great performances. Decent story. Really intense plot scenarios and direction. great cinematography (very realistic).
I think we will see more space-set video games (Mass Effect universe?) using this type of physics simulation.

 

I absolutely loved this movie from start to finish! The visuals were truly stunning and really made you feel like you were there hanging in the vacuum of space with the astronauts. The movie gives you a definite appreciation for how awe inspiring it must be to be floating in space 600 km above the Earth. The threat felt real! When the debris thrashed the shuttle and Sandra's character is spinning out of control alone, I breathed "she is so screwed!" under my breath in the theater because the realism was so gripping.

Now, I know that astronauts can have fun in space, but did anyone feel like the beginning of the movie where Clooney's character is essentially joy riding on his jet pack around the shuttle and telling stories, a bit jarring? My first thought when I saw that scene was that Clooney's character was acting a bit unprofessional and unbecoming for an astronaut that is supposed to be experienced.

 

^ I was afraid that he'd float away and wouldn't be able to get back to the shuttle.

 

This was his last mission. He wasn't afraid of the consequences. I mean, what are they gonna do -- ban him from outer space? And who's gonna go get him while he's goofing off.

ALso, I think someone form mission control encouraged him to enjoy his ride.

 

^

The voice of mission control encouraged the stories. Remember when he started talkin' about Mardi Gras & Houston verified that he hadn't heard that story?

Also, did anyone else notice it was Apollo 13's Ed Harris as the voice of Mission Control? I thought that was a nice touch.