Film a thrill ride with its great ‘ticking clock’ scenes

Published 9:21 pm Thursday, October 10, 2013

“Gravity” is the kind of movie that makes me wish I was a more, ah, flamboyant reviewer.

The temptation to fill one’s reviews with grandiose, hyperbolic descriptions like “A WHITE-KNUCKLE THRILL-RIDE” or “YOU’LL PAY FOR THE WHOLE SEAT BUT ONLY NEED THE EDGE” or “MORE INTENSE THAN A WEEKEND BENDER WITH ROBERT EVANS” can often be overwhelming. Trying to write a somewhat objective review after coming out of a film, good or bad, can often be a difficult thing, especially when it’s so easy and fun to pen flowery descriptions, such as the ones above. And boy is it difficult to refrain from that kind of language when talking about “Gravity.”

I loved “Gravity.” As pure entertainment, it’s almost unmatched against anything I’ve seen this year. Thematically it’s a little on-the-nose, but in terms of the pure rush you can get from a piece of well-crafted film, director Alfonso Cuaron shows everyone else just how it’s done.

It was hard to know what to expect from “Gravity.” Cuaron has never really tackled a film like this before and the sublimely intense 90-second trailers give away precious little information, most of them ending on shots of Sandra Bullock’s character, Mission Specialist Dr. Ryan Stone, hurtling off into outer space after debris collides with a space shuttle.

Would it be a straight survival film? Or would Cuaron go the route of “2001” and have something a bit more out-there? Warning: If basic plot points count as spoilers to you, turn away now.

It turns out it’s the former, though that’s hardly a bad thing. The result is a film that manages to blend character-driven moments alongside what has to be one of the all-time great “ticking clock” scenarios in modern cinema. I won’t say much more as not to spoil the fun, but let’s just say that Ryan and veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) have less than a matter of hours to reach an escape pod on the International Space Station before careening debris (traveling at the speed of a fired bullet) makes its way back around Earth and collides with them. That’s assuming they don’t run out of air in the meantime.

What’s perhaps most incredible about “Gravity” is how seamless Cuaron makes the experience. It goes without saying that filming a movie like this on-location would be impossible, especially with the sort of camerawork he goes for. And yet never once was I pulled out of the experience and thought “that looks like it was shot on a set” or “that’s some really great fakery going on.” James Cameron was on-record crowing about the film’s verisimilitude and it turns out he’s totally right. This is the single most convincing movie about astronauts in outer space that I’ve ever seen.

Some of this is due to the fact that Cuaron barely lets you have a moment to consider how he’s doing what’s he’s doing. It doesn’t quite take place in real time, but it’s close enough to feel like it. There are two notable moments of quiet respite (one of which contains what may be the film’s most beautiful shot), but otherwise, from the moment debris first strikes the Explorer until the film’s final moments, Cuaron hits the throttle and never lets up.

That exhilaration makes it very easy to forgive the rather blunt manner in which the script (which Cuaron co-wrote with his brother, Jonas) delivers the underlying themes. It may be painfully obvious what he’s saying here, but Cuaron is so skilled a filmmaker and Bullock and Clooney are so good at their jobs that it almost doesn’t matter.

It’s no surprise that Clooney is great here, he’s always great, and playing a retiring astronaut on the verge of breaking the world record for longest space walk (and who has a particular penchant for rehashing old stories) feels like the most natural thing in the world for him. Bullock hasn’t ever tackled a role (or film) quite like this before, but she’s unsurprisingly excellent (it’s easily among her best performances). The majority of the film rests on her shoulders, both narratively and thematically, and she manages to wring out a performance that is satisfactorily nuanced.

Stone is a character who is hardly prepared to tackle a situation like hers. She’s clearly terrified and yet we never get the sense that she’s completely helpless, either. It’s remarkable how well Bullock manages to balance those elements to keep her believably frightened (as we all would be) and yet still believably capable.

There’s so much to love here. I love the cinematography. Cuaron’s use of long takes made “Children of Men” something truly special, and the same can be said here. Cuaron reunites with Emmanuel Lubezki to shoot “Gravity” and the result is some stunning camerawork that looks impossible and yet feels wholly convincing. I love the way Cuaron uses Steven Price’s score to accentuate moments in place of sound effects when the vacuum of space wouldn’t realistically accommodate sound.

More than anything, I love that “Gravity” proves a film can be smart and realistic and rooted in meaningful themes and characters and yet still provide the sort of breathtaking thrills that most usually only associate with dumb popcorn blockbusters. Make no mistake, this is popcorn fun, but it’s the type of fun that doesn’t feel empty once the lights go up.

Grade: A+