Australians, along with the rest of the world, have been flocking in droves to see Gravity since its cinema release last Thursday, topping the chart and pulling in an impressive $3.5 million on opening weekend. The film has also convincingly smashed the US’ October Box Office with a staggering and record-breaking $55.6 million. Gravity is doing something—actually, so many things— right.
Margaret Pomeranz called it an “amazing experience” and gave it four and a half stars; the Sydney Morning Herald called it “The best film of the year” and Empire Magazine provided the go-to awful pun, saying it was “out of this world” (duh). But what makes Gravity so great, so equally applauded by critics and movie-goers alike?
To put it simply and to tentatively provide a spoiler-free haven: Sandra Bullock nails it; Gravity is powerful, Gravity is beautiful; Gravity is intensely anxiety-inducing but is paced in such a way that no second of its 90 minutes is wasted. I mean, look at this thing.
Alfonso Cuarón told Wired of the incredibly arduous process of making this film, highlighting the sheer commitment and attention to detail that was payed in making Gravity: “We had to do the whole film as an animation first. We edited that
animation, even with sound, just to make sure the timing worked with the
sound effects and music. And once we were happy with it, we had to do
the lighting in the animation as well. Then all that animation
translated to actual camera moves and positions for the lighting and
actors.” The animators’ process sounds equally fascinating and completely nightmarish: “You could always identify the new animator on the block because he’d be
the guy having panic attacks and a nervous breakdown, wanting to quit.”
And despite Cuarón extensively consulting with astronauts and astrophysicists, to stay true to reality (and it shows), there’s of course a bunch of fact checking scientists who point out the fleeting flaws of the science behind Gravity, somehow forgetting that this is Hollywood, not a NASA-certified documentary. Case in point, pop-scientist and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Thanks for pointing out miniscule details of an otherwise excellent film. Go home, Tyson, you’re drunk.
Mysteries of #Gravity: How Hubble (350mi up) ISS (230mi up) & a Chinese Space Station are all in sight lines of one another.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity: Why Bullock’s hair, in otherwise convincing zero-G scenes, did not float freely on her head.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Good thing it’s actually extremely difficult to not enjoy this film. Go see Gravity. Do it.
My Tweets hardly ever convey opinion. Mostly perspectives on the world. But if you must know, I enjoyed #Gravity very much.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 7, 2013
