I Can’t Believe You Watched that: Gravity (2013)

By RACHEL M. BOLTON
Arts Editor

So who wants to go to space? Not me, especially after watching Alfonso Cuaron’s masterpiece Gravity. That is not to say that the film is bad. Gravity is an achievement in special effects and bringing science and filmmaking into a perfect blend.

Gravity begins with Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) repairing the Hubble Telescope while attached to the Explorer Space shuttle. Suddenly she is forced to get away from the telescope when mission control tells her and fellow astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) to return to Explorer. A debris cloud caused by a Russian anti-satellite test missile is rapidly approaching and will collide with them.

However, the debris hits before Kowalski and Stone can escape and the shuttle is destroyed, making them lose contact with mission control. The two are the only survivors of the disaster and must slowly make their way towards the International Space Station in the hopes that they can take an escape pod back to earth.

But what is most freaky about Gravity is that it could happen in real life. The shuttle and technology are what we have now.  The debris cloud in the film is the result of Kessler Syndrome, a dangerous and possible scientific scenario that would screw us over big time with space exploration. The scariest part of the movie was when Stone and Kowalski find what happened to the other astronaut out with them and the remains of the two who were in the shuttle.

On a lighter note, George Clooney steals all the moments he is in, acting as benevolent comic relief during the less dramatic moments.  As an added bonus the voice of Huston is Ed Harris, who played Gene Krantz, the head of mission control in  Ron Howard’s Apollo 13.

Sandra Bullock needs some sort of an award for her performance as Dr. Ryan Stone. For most of the movie she is alone, making her the audience’s only connection to another person. Stone is a woman filled with pain after the death of her daughter. Her character gradually finds her way to strength and peace in the terrors of space.

To my great joy, I did not get motion sick during the film as I feared I would. Yes, the camera moves in nontraditional angles, but they are not extreme. Many moments in the movie are filmed from the perspective of the astronaut’s helmet, giving it a “you were there too” feell I saw the film in 3D and it is worth it. The 3D is not pointless and adds to the dimensions of the film in a subtle way.

I loved Gravity. It was the most unique and tense movie I have seen in a while. I had no idea how the film was going to end. The soundtrack was eerily wonderful and almost mimicked the atmosphere of space.

If you are a fan of films such as Alien or Moon you will enjoy this movie. Gravity is a fantastic, yet uncannily real look at what could go wrong in space, and a personal look at survival.