Gravity (2013) [Blu-ray]
Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline: Don't Let Go

Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant engineer, is on her first shuttle mission with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalski completely alone, tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth...and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.

Storyline: Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone - tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. Written by MuTaTeD

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown on February 13, 2014 -- It began with a simple image: an astronaut, topping end over end, adrift in space. Over the next four years, that image evolved into Gravity: a breathtaking cinematic marvel, a stunning technical achievement and an incredibly powerful human drama worthy of winning every one of the ten Academy Awards for which it's nominated. Director Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá También, Children of Men) has crafted a masterpiece so engrossing, so involving, so suspenseful, so intensely terrifying, so utterly overwhelming that it's difficult to call it a film when the word "experience" is so much more fitting. You'll forget to blink. Forget to breathe. To move. Your hands will clench. Your heart will pound. The hair on the back of your neck will bristle. Your mouth will go dry. Your eyes will water; first from opening so wide, later with tears. And then, as it all ends, comes what can only be described as a complete and total cinematic catharsis. Gravity is unlike anything I've ever seen. An exercise in grandiose minimalism. A jaw-dropping spectacle rife with restraint. A gorgeous assault on the senses that revels in silence and darkness. A film so real, so transcendent, so poignant that it becomes something infinitely more remarkable than the standard Hollywood-grade entertainment it could have been.

When a cataclysmic chain reaction of low-orbit debris traveling at 17,000 miles per hour destroys a U.S. space shuttle, medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) -- the only two survivors -- have to find a way to reach the International Space Station and return home. Nothing comes easily, though. Communications with their Houston-based mission controller (Ed Harris) have been cut off. Oxygen levels are depleting fast. Propulsion is a rare commodity. The equipment at their disposal is damaged. And the orbiting debris cloud is set to return every ninety minutes. Every second, every maneuver and every decision is crucial. Gravity is a nuts-n-bolts story of survival, little more; although small details about past tragedies and present struggles in Stone's life render every inch of her journey more meaningful than the last.

Compartmentalizing Gravity's production is difficult, at least in traditional filmmaking terms. Cuarón, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Children of Men, The Tree of Life), co-editor Mark Sanger, visual effects supervisor Tim Webber and the team at FX house Framestore worked hand in hand to create shots as daring, innovative and fearless as they are heartstoppingly beautiful and convincing. The lines between each artist's responsibilities blurred daily, to the point that it's something of a miracle Gravity was even completed, much less that it returned from the outer wastelands of development hell the refined, precision-crafted masterwork it is. Any number of things could have gone terribly, terribly wrong. The studio could have pulled the plug at any moment. Cuarón could have run into a variety of insurmountable obstacles. Budget constraints could have come calling. As it was, every step of the way was already fraught with delays and challenges. But the eyes of the filmmakers were always trained on the story and characters, without fail. You'll find very few effects for effects' sake here. Most every visual, no matter how technically impressive, serves the script and performances. Even the magnificent 17-minute "take" that opens the film isn't vanity or grandstanding on the part of Cuarón and Lubezki. The shot is explicitly designed to fully immerse viewers in the reality of Gravity from the outset, and does just that to amazing results.


Bullock is as refreshingly sober and withdrawn as the visual effects. Her performance is built on a series of true-to-life revelations and vulnerabilities that, as pressure mounts, chip away at her character's deep-seated melancholy and set her free. It's obvious long before Gravity reaches its triumphant end that Stone's story is one of rebirth. (One particularly evocative shot finds the doctor curled into a loose fetal position, floating serenely in a sunlit, womb-like airlock, with umbilical cables hanging behind her.) But it's also a story of actively choosing to live life; of overcoming despair and making a very intentional decision to press on. For some, it will be a profoundly religious film, with themes of salvation, redemption and restoration surging beneath the surface. For others, it will be a profoundly human drama, with a fight for survival amidst the chaos and randomness of disaster and the forces of nature. The brilliance of Cuarón and co-writer Jonás Cuarón's barebones storytelling is that it allows for so many fundamentally different interpretations, yet culminates in the same thought: life is worth living, however short-lived it may be. (And no, that isn't a spoiler, one way or the other.)


Beyond the script, visuals and performances lie too many achievements to list, from the film's rich sound editing and mixing to composer Steven Price's stirring score, Mark Scruton's art design, Andy Nicholson's production design, and so on and so on. There is no element out of place in Gravity. No component lacking, no piece missing. It's as pure and perfect as filmmaking gets, and the experience is tremendously affecting. What little criticism has been leveled against the movie amounts to nitpicking. Yes, the fact that Dr. Stone just happens to be on her first space flight and Kowalski just happens to be on his last is a bit contrived, as is Stone's relative inexperience. And yes, there are a few scientific inaccuracies. (Albeit very few, and none that take a serious toll. Much as he enjoyed the film, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson made a point of noting several scientific flaws, one of which misses the point of the title entirely.) Does any of it matter? Not one bit. Gravity is an extraordinary tour de force and the film to beat at the Academy Awards.

Regardless of how well Gravity fares at this year's Academy Awards, it's a stunning achievement in filmmaking unlike anything that's ever come before. Cuarón and his team have created something truly special here, both in terms of technical innovation and storytelling mastery, and the visual effects, outstanding as they are, serve the script and performances at all times, just as they should. For me, this is the best picture of 2013, and Cuarón the best director. Thankfully, Warner's Blu-ray release is stunning in its own right with a dazzling video presentation, a tremendously effective DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track and a three-hour complement of special features. More than a must-own release, it's one of the earliest front-runners for Best Blu-ray Release of the Year.

[CSW] -3.2- *** Possible Spoilers *** It is hard to rate this movie. The space elements are exceptional. The director's perspective of space is just mesmerizing. Sometimes it's the little things like the reflection in someone's helmet or taking in the view amongst all of the destruction that wind up impressing you. The carnage caused by the debris is also astonishing. Not only is it a wonder to watch unfold, but it's amazing to see anyone emerge unscathed from such devastation. Alongside the visually stunning and beautiful special effects work are some gaping holes in physics. There was no reason for the separation of Clooney & Bullock when she's hanging from the parachute cords--they are at rest relative to the space station. And the question of how someone this poorly trained and psychologically unsound even get approved to go into space in the first place, goes unanswered. All of these problems dragged me out of any emotional attachment, and it is emotional attachments that are at the heart of this film. If I could have maintained my suspension-of-disbelief, as I suspect many people can, I would have been able to enjoy this movie a lot more. I rented the 2D version to see if I wanted to purchase the 3D version and although I would love to see this in 3D I really can't justify getting the 3D Blu-ray because of my loss of emotional attachment. If you can maintain your emotional attachment you will truly enjoy this movie… I'm sorry that I just couldn't.
[V5.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box 10/10.


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