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| Gravity – Poster |
Yesterday, I finally saw Gravity. The movie. I had to watch it. Everyone on my Twitter timeline, my Facebook has been talking about it. And not just talking, raving about it. And how.
Everyone said its the best movie to have come out of Hollywood, ever. EVER. Better than all the other movies that I know are great but couldn’t appreciate. Better than all other love stories, better than all those car chases, better than those animated ones, better than those thrillers, better than anyone and everyone. Peer pressure. Sigh.
Plot
So, coming back, the movie is about a bunch of astronauts who are up there, in space, and working on a space station. Something goes wrong and the ship they are on, is destroyed. The story is about these astronauts, who despite their respective personal demons, try to survive and make their way back to Mother Earth. Against all odds. That’s it. Pretty simple story. I am surprised that I could narrate it all in one line. How often can you do that for a movie?
The Good and The Bad
Coming to the good and bad bits, there isn’t much to write about. After all, we just have two actors (George Clooney and Sandra Bullock), some voices and a few dead bodies as the entire cast.
The few bits that I loved in the film, I’d talk about those. But its going to be a spoiler. Read at your own peril. One of the scenes when Sandra Bullock manages to get inside a ship, in zero gravity, she curls up like a baby. I loved that scene. To me, it was like a new birth for her. Against all odds. And when she is on Earth and she is trying to come out of water, to me it was like evolution. The way sea creatures would have stumbled on Earth. Loved the direction. Loved the acting. Loved these two sequences.
Apart from this, I am not sure what to write / talk about from the film. There were some interesting lessons. The ones about loneliness on space, fear of the unknown et al but to be honest, I personally find those very depressing. May be because I need people around me all the time. I am as social as us humans come. I’d skip over those parts.
Verdict
Despite my disappointment with the film, if you do decide to see it, please do so in 3D. Because it has some of the finest footage on space. I am assuming its all computer generated but it is so breathtaking that you ought to watch it. In a cinema hall with a large screen. And in 3D.
There, I recommended Gravity as well. Like everyone else on my timeline and wall. But not for the movie or the story, but for the brilliant documentary that it would have made.
In the end, if I was to rate this as a film, I’d say its average. If I was to rate this as a documentary about space, I’d say its poor (for all the factual errors in it). If I was to rate this as a visual delight, I would give it full marks. I would say is exceptional.
Finally like I said on twitter just after the movie ended, the best part of Gravity? The trailer of Lego, The Movie. Watch it here.
P.S.: And here is an idea for film makers. I sincerely believe that if you can create content documentaries as beautiful as Gravity, you can actually get audiences to come to cinemas and pay a lot of money. All we need is someone to stake the documentary makers. May be I would, some day!