Movie review: The long, hard road back to Earth in 'Gravity'

Repeat after me: Alfonso Cuaron is the man. And Sandra Bullock is his muse.

For those thinking this is just another one of Hollywood's artsy sci-fi films with big name stars, be comforted that it isn't so. This isn't a pure genre film, but something that straddles the territory between "what-if?" in space and the plausibility of horror survivalism. I say that in a very mainstream sense because, really, it's closer to a disaster movie like "2012," one of the volcano or hurricane B-movies, or the preponderance of tornadoes filled with sharks in the US Midwestern Bible Belt.

Okay, maybe not the last one. Still, it's basically a clusterfrak of everything that could go wrong in space, an illustration of Murphy's Law.

Also, it stars just two people. The headliners, in fact: Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as mission specialist and medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone and veteran astronaut and mission commander Matt Kowalski, respectively,

The movie opens in the silence above the Earth's atmosphere, where the US Shuttle Explorer is in orbit. Previous to that some ominous text has helpfully told us that "At 600km above planet Earth, the temperature fluctuates between +258 and -148 degrees Fahrenheit. . .There is nothing to carry sound. No air pressure. No oxygen."


Dr. Ryan Stone is attached to a robotic arm and is busy installing a new scanning system on the Hubble Telescope with great unease in zero gravity. Meantime, Mission Commander Matt Kowalski is playing around in a mobile transport, essentially a jet pack, something that lets him fly unrestrained by the usual tethers attached to the ship.

It's Dr. Stone's first shuttle mission, while it's Kowalski's last; he's set to retire after this tour of duty.

Unknown to them, on the other side of the planet, the intentional demolition of an obsolete satellite has sent sharp fragments hurtling into space. Problem: things set adrift in space, especially exploded shrapnel, can fly faster than bullets. This demolition has set off a chain reaction that puts the fast-growing debris field on a collision course with the Explorer. One moment Kowalski and Stone are trying to retreat to their ship, the next they're being bombarded by space debris.

The impact is catastrophic. It destroys the shuttle and sets Stone adrift, spinning through space anchored to nothing. Eventually, Kowalski in his jet pack manages to find Dr. Stone but they soon find out they are the lone survivors.

Because they have no ship all communication with Houston's Mission Control has been lost. Chance of rescue? Almost nil. Adrift in the void, Stone and Kowalski must find a way to escape space's inertia and find a way to get back to Earth.

Wait, it gets worse: the deadly debris makes its circumnavigation around the Earth with regularity, so you can bet your suited behind that anything it missed the first pass around will definitely get hit the next time. Pressure much?


I've always wanted to be an astronaut as a kid. During swimming lessons I even dove to the bottom and rose up in a foetal position because I read somewhere it's as close to zero G weightlessness as you could get. Or maybe it was too much "Ray Bradbury Theater" or "Twilight Zone," but space for me now officially sucks after watching this, just like the way I loathed mosquitoes when I came out of dengue. 

Bullock, already an Oscar award-winner (for "The Blind Side"), should bag another one of those shiny golden men for this one. Not only does she look fit and great for a woman in her late 40s, this movie proves that America's Sweetheart carries within her the nuances and subtleties of thespianism elevated to art.

There's one scene here where Dr. Stone fiddles with the communications dials on board the Russian landing pod and she finds a voice speaking in Mandarin (or Cantonese?) and grins in triumph, only later to confirm that the broadcast is coming from what's probably a ham radio on Earth and not any of the space stations.

Not that Clooney's Kowalski is any slouch, providing stark confidence and good old American can-do with spiffy war stories included to the nervous and jittery Stone (I mean, even Bullock's character's name weighs heavy in the mind).

Director Alfonso Cuaron essentially crafted an acting vehicle for Bullock, sure; but what a chariot it is. If you enjoyed 2006's "Children of Men" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," he does not disappoint here at all.

"Gravity" answers the question: what pulls you back to Earth? The movie answers this with an investigation into themes of desolation and grief, with survivalism as the initial kindling eventually fanned into a bonfire. It transitions smoothly and almost imperceptibly, doused with the kerosene of catastrophe, Dr. Stone recalls exactly what is it she's living for and finally honors the sacrifice of her dead comrades by wanting to live; by making it home for all of them.

"I have always had a fascination with space and space exploration," said Cuaron in the production notes. "On the one hand, there is something mythical and romantic about the idea of separating yourself from Mother Earth. But in many ways, it doesn't make sense to be out there when life is down here.

You need to watch this one in 3D, since the experience of space and the phenomena that happen in it, especially with the scene taking place inside the stations and landing pods, are truly marvellous: sparks of flame bubble and float; tears fall down Dr. Stone's cheek and then rise through the air and collide with the camera; a human body spinning out of control and adrift; the violent effect on an astronaut of a door filled with air on the other side popping open; the balletic, swimming movements of the astronauts as they frolic on a jet pack.


When the Explorer gets obliterated, the rest of the audience and I flinched and closed our eyes trying to avoid exploding fragments coming at us. Hooray for a good and fitting use of the cinematic tech.

For a close simulation of the zero G environment, wires were indeed used, but SFX supervisor Neil Corbould and his team devised a unique 12-wire rig, which, with the help of expert puppeteers, enabled them to "float" Bullock for specific sequences. For the other scenes, the actors were harnessed onto specialized rigs that could rotate or tilt them at different angles. Cuaron was then able to take advantage of more extreme angles with cameras mounted on giant computer-controlled robot arms.

Proving that necessity is the mother of invention, maybe the best and most ingenious new tool for "Gravity" was a set piece the SFX people dubbed "Light Box." What looks like a hollow cube, the Light Box's interior walls were made up of large, flat panels, each fitted with thousands of tiny LED lights. The purpose, of course, was to get apt illumination on the characters, even for the scene where Dr. Ryan is spinning uncontrollably through space.

The majestic sight of an Earthshine (basically sunrise or sunset seen from outside the planet) as the sun dips below its disc is also sheer visual poetry. It helps that our Big Blue on an IMAX screen can move just as easily as a sobbing Sandra Bullock.

In a movie like this, sound design and score are essential companions and composer Steven Price makes worthy stuff from the subtle to the overt with great pacing, especially in the scene where the Explorer is destroyed.

"Gravity" is exhilarating, cathartic, and a masterwork of collaborative rapport between director, actor, and SFX team. Unlike other solo starrers (paging James Franco), you really don't need to like Ms Bullock to appreciate this one. You'll be blown away, nonetheless.

With Cuaron at the helm, this is a heck of a ride. Prepare for escape velocity and don't let go.

"Gravity" opens on Oct. 3 in all major theaters and is available for viewing on 3D and IMAX 3D.

All photos courtesy of Warner Bros., Inc. — VC, GMA News