Friday, August 29, 2014

Gravity - Movie Review

It's like nothing you have experienced despite all the sci-fi movies we have watched. This looks and feels like the real thing. The earth, the sun, the space, it all looks so serene, so beautiful and so calm. Wished I'd watched it on the big screen at IMAX.

The story starts with these astronauts in space, out on a spacewalk from their space shuttle to repair the Hubble telescope. There's Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) on her first mission, Matt Kowaloksi  (George Clooney) a veteran on his last mission, Shariff and the three are sharing good humored banter with the chaps on ground in Houston. News first comes of some debris heading their way which quickly escalates to a warning to abort mission and head back to earth. But the debris hits the Explorer first, killing all crew. Stone suddenly finds herself flying in space with no tether and she remains that way until she is rescued miraculously by Kowalski. The two then head to an International space station where Kowalski is also lost, heroically trying to save Stone. And then it is Stone by herself as she gets to a Chinese station and heads to earth. If you want high drama there is enough - abandoned space ships, malfunctioning units, fires, debris, falling oxygen levels, no fuel in tanks - you name it you have it.

But nothing looks as beautiful as the earth from space. Nothing feels so nice as the time when Sandra Bullock emerges from the lake - does not matter where. She is on earth, beautiful, beautiful earth. Gravity is shown so beautifully and imaginatively by cinematographer Lubezki,. It was nominated for 10 Academy awards and won seven. It has this quality that makes you want to watch it again. Who would want to resist an opportunity to space walk in that beautiful universe?

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