{"id":13829,"date":"2013-10-04T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.albany.com\/movie-blog\/2013\/10\/gravity-its-a-trip.html"},"modified":"2019-09-16T14:45:47","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T18:45:47","slug":"gravity-its-a-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.albany.com\/movie-blog\/2013\/10\/gravity-its-a-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Gravity, It’s a Trip."},"content":{"rendered":"

Gravity<\/em> features constant peril and some unpleasant deaths, but exquisitely timed at 1 hour 31 minutes, it’s a non-stop thrill ride featuring incredible visuals and Oscar caliber actors giving emotionally weighty performances. It’s one of the few films out worth the full price of admission, especially in IMAX.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a scientist, gets selected to work with astronauts repairing the Hubble telescope. That’s good.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, she’s scared and not much of an astronaut herself, making it difficult to work 250 miles above the earth. That’s bad.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, George Clooney is there to distract her with his good looks and charm. That’s good.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, they are each in self contained space suits, so he’s little more than a voice in her head. That’s bad.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, George Clooney is a player and enjoys country music, so Dr. Stone is probably better off with the separation of outer space. That’s good.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, just as Dr. Stone is finishing her repair work on a ‘comm. panel’, a debris cloud from an intentionally exploded satellite hurdles towards the area Stone and Clooney’s ‘Kowalski’ are working. That’s bad.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, they have a little time and can return to their shuttle. That’s good.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, as it proceeds, the debris cloud strikes a couple other satellites, and so now a huge field of debris threatens to overwhelm their space, hurdling at several hundreds of miles an hour. That’s bad…very, very bad.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, they, well, there’s nothing good at that moment. The situation goes to hell in a heartbeat. At least Dr. Stone has George Clooney’s silky vocal mellifluence to keep her focused as the space shuttle, Hubble telescope, and the rest of the crew get obliterated, while Dr. Stone and Kowalski are blasted, untethered, into the void. That’s good. Wait, no that’s bad. Well, it’s a calamity, but they’re alive, and Kowalski has his MMU jetpack to help them maneuver back to the shuttle.<\/p>\n

Ten minutes have passed, and the thrills are just getting started. Five minutes more go by – it’s amazing all the things there are in outer space – and before you know it, Stone and Kowalski are quite literally floating on fumes, and then quite literally dangling by a wire, every so slowly drifting away, 250 miles above the planet. The situation is so riveting, the precariousness so palpable, you’ll find yourself the passenger in a car stomping on an invisible break peddle, except in outer space your body doesn’t know which limb to throw with no imaginary button, lever, or peddle to thrash at, repeatedly, pointlessly. All you can do is cringe and recoil in your seat.<\/p>\n

Gravity <\/em>is a woman versus nature survival story and character study, presented in the same format, a continuous series of rapid-fire turns of fate, used in the classic children’s story “Fortunately” ( Remy Charlip, 1964) which might be more familiar to modern audiences as the same-veined (or counterfeit, if you like) “That’s Good! That’s Bad!” (Margery Cuyler, 1993). Set in the currently last remaining terrifying wasteland: outer space, like Bullock’s sleeper hit Speed<\/em>, the threat presents early in the film, and once it starts, hits full throttle and doesn’t let up until the final minutes.<\/p>\n