Gravity lays down the law

In theaters Friday: Captain Phillips, Machete Kills

New on Blu-ray: The Hangover Part III, The Purge

I can’t stand 3-D. Beyond the fact that James Cameron, the most conceited and overrated director in Hollywood is its biggest proponent (he can’t close his trap about it), I’ve never been a fan of what amounts to a degraded image rotoscoped to trick the eye and brain into seeing something that it actually isn’t. It’s cheap (except for audiences who shell out a few extra bucks for it). It’s a gimmick. It doesn’t work.

Except when it does.

Alfonso Cuaron’s triumphant Gravity, in theaters now and wracking up critical acclaim and hefty box office returns as I type, has completely altered my stance on 3-D. So tasteful and precise is the Children of Men and Prisoner of Azkaban director’s use of the format, I recommend everyone see it in this way for an experience that is fully engrossing—a taught, tense 90-minute tug of war that is part internal will-to-live grudge match and part breath-stealing NASA documentary. For all of its cosmic wonder, Gravity is most frightening because it looks so real.

In a largely internal, multi-layered performance light years from her arch Blind Side persona, Sandra Bullock stars as a medical engineer, whom, after exploded satellite debris wreaks havoc during her first shuttle mission, is left adrift in space with her more experienced colleague, a cucumber cool, space-walking George Clooney. As options for their safe return to Earth dwindle, Bullock’s only connection to the planet is its giant, pearly visage looming tauntingly in her gaze and the brief, detached voice of Ed Harris, who, for anyone who has seen the excellent Apollo 13 knows, is the exact ground control voice you want to hear radioing back to you from Houston. But unlike Ron Howard’s Tom Hanks-starring drama, Gravity is no rescue mission. It’s an odyssey, an epic, life-affirming journey within to find the strength to survive in a world that too often feels filled with little more than heartbreak and graceless obstacles.

With Gravity, Bullock is a lock for a Best Actress nomination, and Cauron may sneak in the director’s column as well, not to mention the film’s stunning special effects and inventive sound design. I can’t think of a single misstep he made in this film. He has my vote. In an era where spectacles and explosions all but drown out narrative and depth and moments of quiet reflection and character development, Gravity is a stunning achievement that blends both and lands right on the mark.