GRAVITY DVD (2013)

SYNOPSIS: Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney). 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. 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.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Sweeping seven Academy Awards including Best Director, Gravity is one exhilarating space movie that doesn’t feature any lightsaber or ‘beam us up’ technology.

Gravity comes close to a documentary about astronauts and the outer space in which this reviewer caught at the Omni-Theatre when he was young. This movie written by director Alfonso Cuaron and his son, Jonas is not much into plotting and character development, similar to a documentary, it throws audiences into a nail-biting journey experienced by two astronauts and never lets go till the credits roll after 90 minutes.

Filmed digitally on Alexa cameras and featuring groundbreaking visual effects work by Framestone, it’s a technological achievement for vfx since every single detail is recreated faithfully (and flawlessly) onscreen including the two principle actors, Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Cuaron is no stranger in using long takes (check out his Children of Men for one such scene) and right here, the opening is another deliberate continuous 17-minute shot that easily surpassed the former.

The amusing comic duo, Tina Fey and Amy Poeher has earlier poked fun at Clooney’s character at the Golden Globes and they weren’t exactly wrong. Clooney’s veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski appears for only one third of the movie though it was essentially thought to be a two-actor stage play. But anyway the talented actor brought much comic relief to ease the incredible tension. Hearing his trademark silky voice alone (he is covered in astronaut outfit throughout the duration) is worth the admission.

Sandra Bullock is the main star here and her performance as Dr. Ryan Stone is a combination of grace and sheer brilliance. Her character is one tortured soul with a dark past. It’s just unfortunate she has to encounter a terrible incident on her maiden journey to space. Even there’s little material to work with, Bullock manages to successfully convey the fear, despair of trapping in space as she fumbles from one space station to another.

It took four painstaking years to bring Gravity to screen. In the end, Gravity is a not-to-be-missed, tour-de-force by Alfonso Cuaron and his team.  

Mayday, Mayday, I’m still gasping for breath!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Believe it or not, space is filled with debris. This documentary Collision Point: The Race to Clean Up Space narrated by Ed Harris (who also provide the voice of mission control in the movie) is about the danger of that. Informative stuff. 

Aningaaq – A Short Film by Jonas Cuaron is a companion short feature that focuses on the wrong contact made by the despaired Dr. Stone aboard the capsule. A brief introduction by the father and son filmmakers is also included.  

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The DVD comes with a perfect 5.1 soundtrack that never compromises the little sound effects such as heavy breathing, vibrations etc. Detailing is fantastic, colors undeniable solid.    

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee