Have you ever been in a car just as it is about to collide with another object and you know there is nothing you can do to stop it?  Your body tenses, muscles feel like stone and you momentarily lose your breath as the world around you goes silent and slows to a crawl just seconds before impact.
“Gravity” paralyzes the sense in exactly the same way.
The film begins with an intense cacophony of sound and then all goes silent.  The view is serene, peaceful, and even majestic as we are introduced to the main characters, Matt Kowalski (George Clooney, “Ocean’s Eleven”) and Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”).
Bullock, who is probably best known for her comedic roles in ‘Miss Congeniality’ and ‘The Heat’, does not fail to impress in her astounding dramatic role.
George Clooney essentially plays Danny Ocean, “Ocean’s Eleven”, in space, quipping smart remarks, making jokes and even hitting on Stone after disaster strikes.  This does appear shallow until you realize that the character’s motivation is to help distract his panicking counterpart from the chaos, and keep her wits about her so they can find their way home.
The story does become a bit repetitive at points, perpetuating the same danger repeatedly. We also only get a few minutes to learn about the characters, sacrificing the opportunity to attach to them so that when cliffhanger moments arrive, you might have asked yourself, will they survive?
In the end, the film tried but didn’t achieve that human connection, rather it lurches you right into the danger zone.
Alfonso Cuaron’s writing and directorial style makes up for the lack of character attachment, however, with astonishing camera work, breath-taking shots, affective POV perspective that put you immediately in the character’s position, and intensely paced action sequences that leave you gripping and hanging onto the edge of you seat.
The movie’s use of 3D is very effective.  You’ll wince as debris flies by and flashes across the screen. The repetition creates drag which makes you say, “Get on with it!” but the cinematography and writing does save it from being boring.  In fact I would say that ‘Gravity’ succeeds in staying as far from boring as a movie can.

The repetition creates drag which makes you say, “Get on with it!”  The cinematography and writing does save it from being boring.  In fact I would say that ‘Gravity’ succeeds in staying as far from boring as a movie can.
3.5 out of 5 is my rating for ‘Gravity’.  If you’re going to see it on the big screen, see it in 3D.  The experience is well worth the extra cost of a movie ticket.