Gravity - film review

Like ghost stories and horror fiction, sci-fi is one of the genres I enjoy dipping into from time to time. I have published one futuristic short story, for an anthology co-edited by Maxim Jakubowski, but I certainly wouldn't describe myself as a sci-fi expert. But I was recommended to watch the new Sandra Bullock film Gravity, and I'm very glad I did.

The first thing to say about this movie is that it's the first I've ever watched in the cinema with 3D glasses, and I don't think there' s any doubt that this film, more than any other I know, benefits from being watched in 3D. The visual effects are absolutely stunning - the debris flying through space, for instance, seems to be heading right for the audience. This is not just a gimmick - it's very involving.

Sandra Bullock plays Ryan Stone, a scientist with an unhappy past, who is at work out in space with an affable colleague played by George Clooney. All is going well until news comes from Houston of an accident in space that may complicate life for the astronauts. So it proves. Soon Bullock and Clooney are the only survivors of the mission, and face a desperate race against time if they are to survive.

Sandra Bullock has a very engaging personality, but more than that, she is a terrific actor, and I doubt if she's ever performed better than in this role, which must have been very demanding. I was expecting the action in space to be inter-cut with scenes in Houston as the tension mounts. Apparently, the studio expected this too, but director Alfonso Cuaron resisted the pressure. This was an excellent judgment - the result is a very strong piece of work that benefits (as so many films, like books, do benefit) from being fairly short. I very much enjoyed Gravity. Watch it in the cinema, though, if you possibly can.

Cloverfield

There’s a link (though sometimes a very tenuous one) between crime fiction and sci-fi. Although I’ve a strong preference for crime, I do have a soft spot for movies featuring alien creatures invading our everyday existence. Cloverfield is a good recent example of the genre, although in one respect I felt the building of suspense missed a trick. Even so, the movie is filmed in very contemporary style, albeit with a head-spinning surfeit of shaky camera work.

The idea is that a young man, Rob, is about to depart Manhattan for a new job in Japan. His brother arranges for their friend Hud to film a video memento of the party that they throw for him. The point of view throughout is that of the video maker (and the film opens with the message that this is a film recovered from ‘the area formerly known as Central Park’.) Things go awry when news comes of strange goings-on elsewhere in New York City. Before long, the party-goers are running for their lives.

It turns out that aliens have landed (their arrival is shown in the final shot of the film – part of the ‘home movie’ work.) The principal invader is a menacing Godzilla-like creature, and I felt that the movie-makers missed a trick here. Suspense would have built even more strongly had the nature of the creature been hinted at for longer, rather than being revealed so quickly. He is accompanied by various spidery parasites whose bite is fatal. Suffice to say, it does not do to become too attached to characters in Cloverfield. Rob and three others battle for survival against the odds – but bad stuff keeps happening, and the film ends in uncertain and unsettling fashion.

I enjoyed this film, although shorn of its gimmicks, for the most part it follows a well-worn path. It would amaze me if we don’t see Cloverfield 2 in due course.