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Gravity (2013), PG-13, 4 stars

Bullock and Clooney working on a satellite.
When a science fiction movie comes along, I hunger for a brilliant idea to come off the screen that I can evaluate as a mechanism that can propel into sci-fi cinematic history. Every few years or so, a sci-fi discovery comes along that can help other filmmakers to create their original story with a visual effect tool like 3-D. James Cameron with Avatar, Neill Blomkamp with District 9, and Christopher Nolan with Inception. Now Alfonso Cuaron has already put in his name in the history of sci-fi cinema with Children of Men, but he definitely has now a work that he can call his masterpiece.

The movie starts with a brilliant unedited 12-minute scene with Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) fixing on a satellite with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) commanding his final mission. He's telling a funny story with Mission Control (voiced by Ed Harris, a nice touch for the movie), but he has to assist Stone.

They are warned by Mission Control that debris from a Russian anti-satellite test is hitting other satellites and is coming towards their satellite causing a chain reaction disrupting communication from Mission Control. It hits Explorer and Stone tumbles out of control into far and empty space. Kowalski, who is wearing a thruster pack, finds Stone and is tethered together when Stone is running on low oxygen. They both find the damaged ship and the crew is dead. They are the sole survivors of the mission. Now, with a plan to return home, they both must work together even with no communication and low oxygen.

Stone trying to reach communication with Houston.
Again, this is definitely without question a masterpiece. I was so impressed with the intricate details that is added onto the movie. The spectacle of seeing the stars and the impression that the filmmakers did their homework with the physics of zero-gravity, velocity and inertia. Cuaron and the filmmakers wanted you to be amazed by the visual technique and effects that has been up on the screen while you are emotionally intensified with the fear of death in space.

Sandra Bullock has been an actress full of surprises. I consider this to be her best performance of her career. I thought it was a better role than the well-done, but overrated Oscar role in the Blind Side. We feel scared for her after everything she has went through not just in space, but also in her personal life with her losing her daughter in her hometown. The audience roots for her to return home. George Clooney is really terrific as an astronaut who just "drives the bus" and wants to use his time to have a remembered and privileged last mission.

Alfonso Cuaron and Jonas Cuaron, his son, has written a script with skill and imagination. No wonder that this is such a loved family project. I noticed that in every Cuaron movie that there is a theme of survival: Sara in A Little Princess surviving the terrible behavior of Miss Minchin, Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban surviving to prove that he is a true relative of Harry and he had no intention to be working with Voldemort, and Kee surviving danger in Children of Men. I won't tell you the outcome of the movie but it continues the trend.

The movie places itself in the tradition of science fiction cinematic history. It is electrifying filmmaking and a visual marvel with an excellent score by Steven Price. I would not be surprised if Bullock gets an Oscar nomination. Cuaron has joined the master sci-fi directors by the name of James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick. There are shots in this movie that has the feel of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I congratulate both Cuarons for accomplishing the work to turn this movie into a masterpiece.

****

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