Hollywood doesn't get a lot of space stories grounded in reality or near reality. This year's film, Gravity, is a rare gem - a story set in space without a lot of science fiction elements. Sandra Bullock is Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on a routine space shuttle mission. At first, everything seems normal until an unforseen disaster turns the next hour and a half of her life into a desperate fight for survival.
In Gravity, space itself becomes a sort of sinister character. Despite its majesty, it is rightly depicted as a cold and dangerous place. Small pieces of debris act as armor piercing bullets. The lack of Oxygen makes every breath important (Sandra Bullock has to cut down on that hyperventilation IMO). Yet despite the incredible odds stacked against her, this is a story of how people respond to these odds and confront them either with indignation or resignation.
The special effects of this film are amazing. You wonder if they really did film scenes up in space where there is zero gravity (it was actually done by special rigs). While scientifically the film takes its liberties, it's all for the sake of the overall entertainment value - and there are some aspects of the film, like the depiction of fire in space, that are pretty much spot on. The camerawork is excellent and disorienting,. fully immersing us into the setting. It spins and tumbles and stays in place, close to our main characters but steadily in orbit.
Gravity is one of the best movies of the year, and one of the best directed too. If you have a chance, give it a watch.
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