![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/gravity.jpg\" "\\"gravity\\"")
<\/p>\nBy Bob Garver<\/p>\n
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The theater where I saw \u201cGravity\u201d was packed with people, packed with human flesh. The heft of the huge crowd made the house very hot. And yet, it wasn\u2019t five minutes into the movie when my blood ran cold. The fingers on my right hand soon hurt from the death grip I had on my armrest. Even my legs were weirdly locked, as if subconsciously I was determined not to lose my balance \u2013 while I was seated. Such is the experience of \u201cGravity,\u201d a film so intense it can affect you on a physical level.<\/p>\n
The film stars special effects orchestrated by director Alfonso Cuaron. The lead actors are George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. They play astronauts whose mission is interrupted when debris from an exploded Russian satellite destroys their spaceship, leaving them stranded in outer space. If they want to get home, they\u2019ll have to get to the International Space Station without a ship, use a badly damaged escape pod to get to a Chinese space station, and use an escape pod that might not even exist to make it back to Earth. The task would be harrowing enough on Earth if they were just transferring between cars; the disorienting climate of space makes it seem all the more hopeless.<\/p>\n
Clooney\u2019s Matt Kowalski is about as experienced as an astronaut can be; he is the person we\u2019d most like by our side in this situation. Bullock\u2019s Dr. Ryan Stone is a very smart version of the rest of us. She has minimal training and experience, and isn\u2019t prepared for the setbacks that occur. Which is to say that she\u2019s scared and stripped of all composure and rationality. I\u2019d call her whiny and idiotic if I blamed her for a second.<\/p>\n
Stone gets separated from Kowalski and we\u2019re with her through every desperate, self-doubting moment as she struggles for survival alone. I was unhappy a few years ago when Bullock won an Oscar for \u201cThe Blind Side\u201d because I didn\u2019t like the idea of prefacing her name with \u201cAcademy Award Winner\u201d before her typical dumb romantic comedies and insipid weepies. Now that I\u2019ve seen \u201cGravity,\u201d not only do I fully support her title of \u201cAcademy Award Winner,\u201d but I can\u2019t think of any other actress I\u2019d rather see win for this year.<\/p>\n
Speaking of Oscars, expect this film to run the technical categories. It has the best special effects I\u2019ve seen since at least \u201cLife of Pi.\u201d Cuaron and his team have clearly taken this opportunity to challenge themselves and the result is a space film with an atmosphere unlike any I\u2019ve ever seen before. The actors and set pieces move around beautifully in tranquil scenes and terrifyingly in intense ones (Beware: the intense scenes include a lot of spinning and shaking and may give viewers motion sickness). I\u2019m terrible at science, so I don\u2019t know how well some of the film\u2019s incredible elements would hold up in the real world (real outerworld?). As it is, the only nitpick I\u2019m confident making is that I don\u2019t think NASA would send up a team of astronauts who are such strangers to one another.<\/p>\n
\u201cGravity\u201d is the best film of 2013 so far. The performances, effects, and script are all impressive and tight. The film threatens to destroy itself for a moment in favor of an implausible twist, but the twist turns out to be a false alarm and we\u2019re all the more grateful that the film didn\u2019t go in this direction. The film poignantly taps into the universal fear of isolation while never looking like it\u2019s cutting corners with its simplicity.<\/p>\n
Four Stars out of Five.<\/p>\n
\u201cGravity\u201d is playing at Hershey Cocoaplex. Call 312-1300 for showtimes and other info. The film is rated PG-13 for intense perilous sequences, some disturbing images and brief strong language. Its running time is 90 minutes.<\/p>\n
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