Contains Spoilers!
10 nominations for the big showdown at the Academy Awards in 2014 GRAVITY deserves them all but one. The idea of having this movie nominated for the category of the Best Motion Picture of the Year is clearly overrating this motion picture. This movie is great but not that good to stand alongside all the other titles that have made the nomination cut. Maybe the concept of “Life in space is impossible” was an intriguing theme to many a viewer that this movie clearly has made it to the top. This was all that I was thinking the entire 91 minutes; I mean the movie was great … but come on!! This aint Oscar Nominee material.
Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), Mission Commander Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) and Sharif (Phaldut Sharma) for some reason is outside their space ship trying to rectify a matter which is absolutely irrelevant to the plot when they are caught in the middle of a astro-debris shower which destroy the spaceship they were on killing all its crew except Ryan and Matt (What a surprise- Now I didn’t see that coming). Floating in space without any clue as to where she is Ryan cries for help only to be rescued by Matt and his jetpack. Matt and Ryan make their way to the ISS (International Space Station) which conveniently happens to be just there, with the hopes of finding a ship to use for reentry back into earth. With all hopes lost they look out and see the Chinese Space Station (How Convenient again!!!) but only one survives the journey.
I expected much more. Having won the Golden Globe for Best Director I was actually hoping to see a LIFE OF PI experience. Alfonso Cuaron just did not get through to me. Don’t get me wrong. The motion picture is great and I enjoyed the uniqueness and subtle intensity and brilliant acting, but having watched movies such as DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, 12 YEARS A SLAVE, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS & AMERICAN HUSTLE I went in expecting big things. I walked off disappointed merely since I set the bar too high myself.
Oscar Winner Sandra Bullock once again has backed the right pony with the script. Evolving entirely around her and only her she is magnificent. I must say that if for one moment she faltered I would have fallen asleep. She kept the pace. She built the intensity, she juggled between hope and faith, she pulled out all stops and she was fantastic. Sandra Bullock has been nominated for the category Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role but it’s highly unlikely that she would bring home the gold a few weeks from now. What she does though I doubt anyone could have done better. She is the ideal candidate for the role. It’s hard to even picture another actress to be put in that spot and still turn up a performance of this caliber. This truly is a display of talent. As for George Clooney; it’s not even a role, to me he is just background noise and a face for publicity.
VERDICT
Class A acting by Sandra Bullock. She will make you feel the fear and Pain. Breathtaking Visual Effects and Film Editing. Too predictable at every turn. Watch it for the performance of Sandra Bullock and for no other reason at all.
Nominations
-Best Motion Picture of the Year
-Best Performance by and Actress in a Leading Role
-Best Achievement in Cinematography
-Best Achievement in Directing
-Best Achievement in Film Editing
-Best Achievement in Music written for Motion Picture, Original Score
-Best Achievement in Production Design
-Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
-Best Achievement in Visual Effects
TITTLE: GRAVITY
DIRECTED BY: ALFONSO CUARON
STARRING: SANDRA BULLOCK & GEORGE CLOONEY
RATED: PG-13
RATING: 05/10
RUNTIME: 91 MINUTES