"Gravity" is quite an exciting adventure film. George Clooney and Sandra Bullock make up almost the entire cast of a story centering upon an accident in a space station and the desperate efforts of the small crew to survive.
The technical portion is a hair-raising spectacle careening at breakneck speed. And eerie. Explosions in space are, of course, soundless and fire limited; action and reaction unforgiving. So there are no pyrotechnic distractions. The entire bulk of the story, with its mechanical and natural dangers, is gripping.
The characters are peculiar--a medical officer as a technical scientist, Clooney as Clooney--but interesting enough. The film, however, gets very peculiar when the authors seem to become dissatisfied with the story as an adventure film and try to expand it into I-know-not-what. At some point the main character begins to question her will to live. It is a shock as she has fought so hard. And it is solved with an inexplicable and unforshadowed introduction of what can only be called revelation, a vision that teaches her. This surprising turn of events in this highly technical story is actually benumbing; the audience--first deceived by the circumstance and then understanding of it--grossly accepts it, then shrugs it off like a glancing blow and continues on its way.
I suppose that could be seen as a tribute to the excitement the rest of the story generated.
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