Gravity

Ratings: 8.0/10

Film Class: A 

Genre: Action Drama

Is this the first movie made to portray realistically a survival situation in outer space? I don't know the answer myself, but I believe it is. 

I mean there's lotsa sci-fi movies out there, like Star Wars and Star Trek, there's even Moon, but this is possibly the most realistic space movie made. No aliens, no clones, just plain familiar "present-ries", like satellites orbiting Earth, and astronauts maintaining them. 

What seemed like an "everyday" routine turns out to be a disaster for medical engineer Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) when a Russian satellite was blown up. 

It created a chain reaction, causing a bunch of debris to orbit Earth every 90 minutes. The butterfly effect at its bleakest. If you're wondering how exciting can this movie be (like I did) since there's pretty much nothing much out there in space, there's your ans. Top it up with limited oxygen, abandoned space stations, stellar acting from the only two cast in the movie and state-of-the-art CG, Gravity is one insanely intense gem in modern cinema. 

*Spoilers ahead* It didn't occur to me how scary it was until the very first first-person-view shot. I came to understand how disorientating a stranded somersaulting astronaut in space would feel like, and I felt pretty giddy during the first 30 mins of the film, thanks to the skilful film making which added such realism there was no way any audience wouldn't empathize with Ryan. 

The director wasted no time in introducing us to Matt's personality during the opening scene, subtlety through his conversations with Houston, the land comms station. I personally thought this was well-thought because it not only injected humour to a possibly monotonous setting, it also contributed to alleviating despair with a light-hearted sense of hope which would otherwise be missing if it was simply a solemn movie. 

Some of the parts were quite ingenious, on how Ryan tried to save herself, and there was always a "dead-end" somewhere, to create that added sense of tension. Will she be saved? Or will she die in space? After all, surviving in space is all about 10% oxygen, 20% determination and 70% luck. 

Gravity is nothing like I've ever seen. Despite only 2 cast, it truly deserves an "A" for film class due to the CG and the acting. I really felt as though I was in outer space (though I will never know how it really feels like) even though I only watched it in 2D. Even the scripting and storyline delivered. It was a full package - A space experience you don't want to miss.