Gravity in 3D

So yesterday I ventured to Cineworld to finally get around to making my own mind up about 'Gravity' in 3D. It followed an endless list of positive reviews including a 96% 5star rating on metacritic and a review for The Independent stating 'Gravity is a fairground thrill ride of a movie, a 3D adventure offering spectacle, scale and a sense of wonder that no planetarium could match.'. 

I for one, am usually against the so-called 'awe' of 3D. I agree with Niki Stevens from JoBlo, 'I don't hate it, nor do I think that it's a completely unusable technique. I just think that we are using it too much for the gimmick factor'. (See more at http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/director-alfonso-cuaron-thinks-most-3d-films-are-crap-technique-is-completely-misused). It is just that - a gimmick. But Facebook exploded with people telling me that Gravity was different. So, I thought I'd see for myself.

It certainly didn't help that the cinema began by projecting the wrong reel, in 2D instead of 3D so we actually watched the first 20mins of the film twice. This was annoying. However, they soon sorted the issue and we watched from the beginning in 3D. The difference...those stars in the distance looked a little bit further away, a little deeper into deep space.

I have to admit, that although my overwhelming conclusion is that the film would have been just as good in 2D for me, there were some nice 3D moments. For example, it did help now and again to portray the disorientating nature of space. Four particular moments stood out in 3D for me. The first, was the debris as it came hurtling through the depth of the screen, just enough to make you blink. The second, the floating objects within the shuttles that added a humanity to these now deserted vehicles.

The third, was the PoV shot from inside Ryan's visor. Here we were treated with yet more disorientating visions (or rather lack of it) as the visor seemed to swell with smudges and the condensation of our own breath. You too felt claustrophobic, as though you were floating around panicking in a restrictive spacesuit with them.

The final moment, was when she cried. So many sic-fi films have got it wrong when it comes to crying. They lazily wave it through post-production as tears are allowed to roll down characters' faces...when of course in space, they wouldn't. Gravity gets it right, as tears fly off into the cabin proving a beautiful reminder of her pain and desolation in an otherwise undisturbed setting. So I guess 3D wasn't completely lost on me. It was a nice touch, but I still think that although I liked them, some still prove a little gimmicky.


So what about the story then? I think it hard for any film that consists of only one or two characters to keep the interest. Gravity's success comes with a backstory of pain and longing and a continuous line of action ensuring we are not given enough time to get completely comfortable anywhere but the edge of our seats. I feel though, that this is mainly to the genius of the sound design which adds tension I did not expect from a story about a place where there is no other life but a nearly naked Sandra Bullock in a ridiculous halloween michelin man outfit. The story is extremely repetitive however, as it becomes the

norm to always do things just in the nick of time. 'Oh no the spaceship is blowing up, to the lifeboat!'...and of course, she locks the door behind her at the very last possible moment every time. And another thing, SHE REALLY NEEDS TO LEARN TO GRAB ONTO THINGS BETTER! The amount of times she was flung towards objects to grab onto or die and ended up hurtling away from them instead, told me that maybe she should have practiced the monkey bars a little more as a child!

Jokes aside, there were yet more moments to cherish. In a story filled with the delayed unveiling of Ryan as a mother, we were presented with some truths we perhaps did not expect. The symbolism of

maternalism became increasingly significant throughout, particularly with one beautiful shot that sticks in my mind. As Ryan enters the shuttle after a close shave with the lack of gravity in outer space (one of many obviously) she strips of in desperation at being free from the confine of her oxygen-less prison and allows herself to float. With the entrails of various shuttle equipment behind her, she floats blissfully into the beautifully symbolic position of a baby in the womb of its mother.
She was safe ... for a moment.


The longing for survival is always a story to keep us hooked, unless its in a broken down car filled with  OTT teenagers that split up and look for help in a dark forest. Then...they quite frankly deserve to die. Gravity, with its use of sound transports us as an audience into space too. I couldn't put it better than Geoffrey Macnab for The Independent 'Space is silent – and this enables the film-makers to play ingenious games with sound editing and music. We hear country music. There are rumblings and reverberations on the soundtrack. Steven Price's electronic soundtrack accentuates the eeriness.'  (read more here: http://tinyurl.com/nbtb26z) The team did a fantastic job in creating all those sounds that prick our hears to the sound of hope at any crackle of a radio. Some awards should most definitely be swinging their way.

The casting was clever. We all know the faces of Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, even when

hidden behind a sweat-smeared visor. We enjoyed the break in panic that came with Clooney's character. It allowed the tension to rise and fall rather than remaining the whole way through so that we fell away from clenched fists and a sweaty brow and got bored. It ensured we stuck with it. Although I have to say, thank God that his return to the lifeboat shuttle was a hallucination/dream! If he had made a miraculous return I don't think any audience would forgive the sci-fi cliche! So, they get a little credit for avoiding that one. We enjoyed his straight-thinking and comedic approach to inevitable death and instead were treated to Eastern radio stations and relentless jokes insisting Ryan was attracted to him.

It was certainly not the best film I have seen this year. It had some 3D that was worth watching, and some that wasn't. It had a story that seemed repetitive yet glowed in moments of sentimentality and drive to get home. It was about longing, about loss and about fighting to overcome it. I think we can all associate with that.

I'd give it an 8/10... although I must say that without the genius and intricacy of the sound design that would certainly drop to 6/10. Give those guys a pat on the back!

(All Images are Owned by Heyday Films & Warner Bros.)