by R.C. Samo
Editor-in-Chief
Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) is on his final space walk and enjoying every last minute of solitude in space. Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a scientist who was called up to the fix the Hubble telescope. Everything is going according to plan, when the Russians miscalculate the distance of an out dated spy satellite, that they destroy, causing for an emergency evacuation, which Stone refuses to adhere to until the final component is in place.
With that 10 second delay, all hell breaks loose, leaving Kowalski and Stone as the sole survivors of this mission. They lose audio contact with Houston, they have lost their entire crew and their only chance for survival is to make it to the Russian space station roughly 100 miles away.
Warner Bros. took a risk in making a film like Gravity. Not many studios would take a chance on having only two actors carry an entire film with the backdrop being outer space and a reflection of the earth, but somehow, the WB was able to get the bean counters to agree to it. Granted it is helpful that the two stars are Clooney and Bullock, but that’s it, all you have are Clooney, Bullock, outer space and shrapnel.
The film was visually stunning, the audio, which included the voice of Ed Harris as mission control fading in and out of the background was an amazing touch created by Dolby Laboratories. Bullock was incredible in carrying the majority of the picture alone, all metaphors used for her rebirth and trying to find a purpose for living after her loss of Stone’s 4-year-old daughter were beautifully incorporated.
My main issue with the film was that she nearly died in every since scene for 85 minutes, from being blown off the space ship, to almost not making it to the Russian space station, which was severely damaged that forced her to use an escape pod that caught fight, forcing to to evacuate and try to make it to the Chinese station, which just as she got to the air lock was hit with shrapnel, to even returning to earth having to endure another near death experience. It was just too much. At some point, you will ask yourself, “How the hell can a Mechanical Engineer from Illinois with minimal training survive in space like that?”
Gravity opens Friday, October 4 and is worth a look for the visual effects and amazing sound. Clooney plays his typical charmer chracter, while Bullock is beyond fantastic. Throw realism out the window and feel the weight of Gravity.