"Gravity" Film Review

Trailer: "Gravity" Trailer - Warner Bros.


Excellent suspense film! Even though there is the Science-Fiction backdrop, the movie is, at its heart, a suspense film, as two astronauts try to survive after their shuttle gets hit by space debris. As seen in the trailer, we spend a good amount of time following Sandra Bullock's character. And, thus, the film ends up being kind of like "The Perils of Pauline," with Bullock going from one calamity to another!

The Visual Effects are very impressive! But, what makes the film work is director Alfonso Cuarón. He directed what I think is easily the best of the "Harry Potter" movies, "The Prisoner of Azkaban." He treats his characters as humans, instead of just playing pieces on a game board. What he does is to not get himself too caught up in the Science-Fiction and Fantasy genres. He sees the humanity in the characters, and that's what makes his films work.

The 3-D is very cool! The cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki is excellent. He shot "The Tree of Life," and has been working with director Terrence Malick on his past few films.

What I didn't like was the film score by Steven Price. He has done a few films, but while he gets the tone just right in many of the quieter sequences, he gets quite overwrought in the action sequences. That bothered me, and distracted me. I would have preferred a composer like Tangerine Dream, who worked on films like William Friedkin's "Sorcerer" in 1977 and Michael Mann's "Thief" in 1981 and are still active today.

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