Regular readers of my reviews will know that I am a long time fan of Sandra Bullock, and as most people were, I was intrigued by the idea of her in a more serious role, set on a space shuttle with only George Clooney for company.
The film follows Sandra's character Dr Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first mission on the space shuttle Explorer. She is carrying out routine repairs on the Hubble telescope when her fellow astronauts, including George's Matt Kowalski, on his last mission, are informed of an incoming amount of space debris from a Russian missile strike on an old satellite. Dr Stone is propelled away from the telescope by the debris and with little oxygen left and no way to right herself, Kowalski, who had been floating around using a jet pack, goes in search of her. But will he get to her in time?
Although I knew I would undoubtedly see Gravity, I ended up seeing it rather late in it's release because most people I knew had seen it when I was busy. As a result, I had a lot of other people's opinions of the movie to contend with before I made my own mind up. I wasn't worried that this would sway my eventual opinion of the film, but I was expecting something rather spectacular.
I was told the film was really good, and the 3D absolutely stunning. Sadly, I found neither of these to be true. I thought the film was distinctly average. If you took away the space setting this would be a very boring film. And I don't think it's because there is only one person on screen most of the time. This film made me think of Moon quite a lot, the one man movie with Sam Rockwell set on the moon. That film is similar in many ways as it's set in space and predominantly only features one man on screen. But I liked Moon, I didn't really like Gravity. And I also don't think it is because Sandra Bullock was the one woman on display here. As I previously stated, I love Sandra Bullock, and I love when she puts in gutsy serious performances that show how great an actress she really is.
*Spoiler Alert (although it is mentioned in the trailer)* No, for me, I think the thing that failed Gravity is the lack of character development. Quite early on the audience is let in on the secret that Dr Stone has recently lost her child. It's very sad and it's dredged up constantly from that point on. But for me, that's not enough. I need to know who Dr Stone is, I need more than her loss in order to feel something for her. *End Spoiler Alert* And we never really get to know anything else about her, what her motivations are, other than her wanting to get as far away from earth as possible. Which she achieves obviously, but is then terrified of being in space.
As if that wasn't bad enough, poor George has even less of a role than Ms Bullock, with only around half an hour of screen time. He is his usual charming self during this time, and as such, it was no surprise to me that the original Matt Kowalski was supposed to be non other than Robert Downey Jr (until he passed on the role). Downey Jr is a similarly charming, mid-40s chap who I have no doubt would have been as capable as Clooney as Kowalski, but I just wish he'd had more screen time. His character was a lot more interesting.
The end result is all just a bit of a wishy-washy mish-mash for me. And to top it all, the spectacular 3D didn't seem all that spectacular. I've always thought 3D was overrated but when it's done well, like in Hugo for example, it has the power to make me eat my words. Here, I could have taken or left having to wear two pairs of glasses into the cinema.
A distinctly lacklustre effort but a solid turn by Bullock. I just wish she'd had more to play with. 6 out of 10.
Viewing Date - 24th November 2013
UK Release Date - 7th November 2013
Cast Overview:
Ryan Stone ~ Sandra Bullock
Matt Kowalski ~ George Clooney
Mission Control (voice) ~ Ed Harris
Director ~ Alfonso Cuarón
Writer(s) ~ Alfonso Cuarón and Jonás Cuarón
with additional collaboration from George Clooney (uncredited)
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