Blu-ray Review: ‘Gravity’ is Elegant, Nail Biting at the Same Time

CHICAGO – Some films fundamentally change what you expect from cinema. “Star Wars” (1977), “Jurassic Park” (1996), “Avatar” (2007) all pushed those boundaries. In my first of a whopping eight theatrical viewings of “Jurassic Park” for instance I never once felt the illusion of watching real dinosaurs was interrupted by suddenly realizing how ‘they did it’ I was simply watching real dinosaurs.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

It seemed somehow an award for years of believing that was what cinema was all about. That you could find a moment where the world you wanted to believe in could be really and truly real. In “Gravity” director Alfonso Cuaron and his team have taken the notion of space adventure and stripped it of the same unreality. Never once did I question where the camera was, or how I was witness to the events onscreen. “Gravity” takes the artifice of film into the atmospheric void of the blank screen so artfully that I was on the same journey as the characters, floating, suspended between the real and the unreal and utterly lost in the momentary importance of one woman’s fight for survival.

The special features here are almost as compelling as the film itself. How ‘they did it’ is explored in huge detail and is itself a great adventure tale. All sorts of devices and processes were specially created to achieve the technical effects in the film, and hearing how Cuaron and his team relentlessly brought such to bear on the emotionality they wished to create with their visuals is a film school all in itself and a great example of what is sometimes right about effects driven stories. Gravity literally couldn’t be set anywhere else but in space and everything was dependent on Cuaron getting us there. He did and any future films that take space travel at all seriously will be made by those who first familiarize themselves with his accomplishmentIt should also be noted that the presentation here is flawless. The 3D is some of the best I’ve ever seen. Watch this on the biggest TV you can.

SYNOPSIS

During a routine space walk and repair mission two astronauts are cast adrift when a sudden space junk storm destroys their craft. Left with only a few rudimentary tools and their own will to survive they craft an escape plan, examining their lives and making impossible choices to get back home.

Image credit: Warner Bros.

SPECIAL FEATURES

◦ 9 lengthy featurettes detailing the making of the film

◦3 Complete Shot breakdowns

◦ “Collison Point: the Race To Clean Up Space”. A twenty minute short film describing the hazards of Earth’s growing cloud of space debris

◦”Aningaaq” a short by Cuaron’s son Jonas allowing viewers to watch a scene from the film from a new point of view.

“Gravity” stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 25, 2014

[11]	By DAVE CANFIELD [12] Contributor HollywoodChicago.com dave@hollywoodchicago.com [11]