The debris from the collisions is headed directly for the vulnerable Explorer. As they’re getting ready to finish, they get an urgent message from Mission Control to abort the mission immediately-a Russian missile has destroyed a defunct spy satellite, which has caused a massive chain reaction of satellite collisions ( an effect known as Kessler Syndrome). Matt teases rookie Ryan, who only had six months to train for her role in the mission. Ryan (Sandra Bullock) and Matt get down to the business of fixing a sick scope.Īs another Explorer crew member named Shariff (Phaldut Sharma) performs his own EVA, Matt flies over to Ryan and gives her a hand with the Hubble’s stubborn electronics. The movie’s technology is a precursor to today’s full-on LED wraparound environments (see: “The Mandalorian” and other current VR-made movies/TV shows ). The backgrounds, spacesuit detailings, and spaceship exteriors/interiors were entirely computer-generated, with large interactive lighting rigs used to simulate changing sunlight in orbit, as well.
Note: In this digitally-shot, largely CGI movie, almost no practical elements were used for most shots, save for the actors’ faces. Matt is the very embodiment of the confident, lovably arrogant US astronaut. Stone with his country music, tales of drunken escapades and casual ( though innocent) flirtations. Matt Kowalski ( George Clooney) is testing the untethered MMU prototype, casually annoying Dr. As Ryan works on Hubble, veteran astronaut Lt. Ryan is not exactly keen on the whole spacewalking-EVA thing, despite her supportive crew and a steely Mission Control capcom ( Ed Harris, in a deft bit of casting).
GRAVITY 2013 MOVIE
The movie opens with space shuttle Explorer servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, fitting it with a new piece of hardware that ( for some reason) can only be installed by a civilian doctor named Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock). Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) tests a Manned Maneuvering Unit a long discontinued item that dead-ended in the 1980s. He’s floating in a most peculiar wa-aa-aayyy… Bear in mind this is entertainment, not a Caltech lecture. Despite the movie’s respect for hardware realism, it’s more than willing to bend the laws of physics, too. We also see an astronaut using an untethered MMU ( manned maneuvering unit)-a device that hasn’t been used on a space shuttle mission since 1984. It’s more a fanciful near-present, where the space shuttle ( a fictional orbiter named Explorer), the International Space Station (ISS), and the Chinese space station Tiangong somehow exist in active service together. “Gravity” doesn’t take place in a specific time. As the opening text cards tell us, space is antithetical to life, and that notion is hammered home every few minutes.įor this review, I once again fired up my HD digital projector and opened the 7 ft/2 meter collapsible screen to recapture that theatrical feeling I had nearly ten years ago. “Gravity” is more about the power, danger, and emotion of spaceflight. Yes, much of the movie’s space science is deliberately fudged for the sake of entertainment ( I’ll get into all of that soon), but “Gravity” isn’t aiming to be a space docudrama ( we have 1995’s “Apollo 13” for that). My own pic of the real-life space shuttle orbiter Endeavour, taken in 2014, at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.Īctress Sandra Bullock ( “Demolition Man”) plays a doctor turned astronaut who finds herself alone in orbit, following a horrific, though not- entirely-implausible disaster in space. There was a lot of heart in the experience. As a longtime space geek, I really enjoyed Cuaron’s nicely-crafted ride, too. Almost like a 1990s IMAX movie of touring the Grand Canyon, or flying in a hot air balloon, but with spaceships and A-list actors. I remember going to see “Gravity” twice in theaters, because it was such a cinematic experience. In 620 or so columns, I was surprised to realize that I’d not yet written about director/cowriter Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity”, a movie that hits its decade mark this year. *****SPACE SHUTTLE-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!*****
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