Evaluation On Movie Gravity Essay Samples

Introduction

This essay is purposefully written to make an evolution on the movie named ‘Gravity’ which is directed, produced and co-written by Alfonso Cauron. The movie has been released in 2013 and it stars Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone, a biomedical engineer and George Clooney as a veteran astronaut named Lieutenant Matt Kowalski. In the movie it is shown that both Dr. Ryan Stone and Matt Kowalski have been left stranded in the space when their space shuttle has been destructed by the space debris in a routine space travel and followed by their subsequent attempt to come back to Earth (Graf et al.). Gravity was basically produced in United Kingdom and Framestore, a British visual effect corporation has said to be spent more than three years to create most of the visual effects shown in the movie. Interestingly it is highly noticeable that the movie comprises over 80 minutes of visual effects out of the full 91 minutes. In the evaluation process of the movie it can be said that Alfonso Cauron’s creation Gravity is less than a sci-fi and probably more of a thriller kind of a movie which certainly makes someone breathless with a lot of excitement (James et al.). The movie is technically a superb example of awesome visual effects as well as the intensity to survive of a human in any kind of situation.

Plot of ‘Gravity’

The movie starts the journey by showing Dr. Ryan Stone who is a scientific engineer of NASA space shuttle explorer is sent to her first space mission and Matt Kowalski is in command in his final space mission. In the space they both are deployed for the servicing of Hubble Space Telescope and in the mean time Mission Control warns them that a chain reaction has been formed due to the explosion of a Russian satellite that causes a cloud of moving space debris towards them. After a few seconds Matt is being ordered to aboard the mission by the Mission Control and in the mean time the space debris hit the telescope. Thus the communication is also broken with the Mission Control. In the recent time situation went out of control as large amount of debris hit the Explorer and the Telescope that detached Dr. Stone from the space shuttle and left are alone in the space (Shaw, Howell and Genskow). Thereafter, Lieutenant Matt Kowalski recovers Dr. Stone by using manned maneuvering unit (MMU) and the duo return to the Explorer where they found it has been severely damaged. They also found that rest of the crew members has lost their lives in the fatal accident. After that they used the MMU to reach to the International Space Station (ISS). As they approaches to the ISS Matt decided that the capsules in the module is useless for returning to Earth and they have to move to the Chinese Space Station which is 100 kilometers away from there in order to return to Earth safely by using the Chinese module. In the mean time in order to save the life of Dr. Stone, Matt has decided to detach himself from the cable and moves towards certain death in the dark space. He also keeps helping Dr. Stone till the communication has been there. After that Dr. Stone enters into the ISS where she finds that the engine has no fuel to move forward. Being helpless Dr. Stone has decided to give up and shuts down the oxygen supply of the cabin inside as she wanted to die. The next scene has shown that Kowalski enters in the cabin from the space and scolds Dr. Stone for giving up to the situation and he also tells her to use the landings rockets to move in space in order to reach the Chinese space station. Suddenly Dr. Stone feels that the reappearance of Lieutenant Matt Kowalski was just her imagination but it has certainly made a strong will inside her to give a try to reach to Earth. Being unable to start the Soyuz from the station, she uses fire extinguishers to reach to the Tiangong, the Chinese space station. In the final countdown she enters the capsule as it is ready to enter the atmosphere of Earth. She also contacts to the Mission Control to inform that she is returning to the planet. In the mean time Stone finds that Mission Control is tracking the capsule but the communication has been disconnected due to the harsh re-entry and the fire breaks out in the outer most part of the capsule. In a few seconds the capsule enters the atmosphere and it lands in a water body on the earth but due to the fire smoke forces her to evacuate as soon as possible (James et al.). By the time she opens the capsule door water forces into the capsule and that lead to sink the capsule. But finally Dr. Stone recovers to swim ashore and keeps looking at the sky watching the other part of the Tiangong entering to the earth’s atmosphere and takes forward her first step on the land in a shaky little way.

Evaluation of aspects of the movie

There are several aspects of the movie that have been discussed for the evaluation prospective. Most of all the scenes of blue planet from the space is quite extraordinary and presented in a significant manner. The panoramas scenes of the astronauts through the space stations are so informative and beautiful. But most amazing and impressive thing about the movie is not probably its scale, its sense of awesomeness or the suspense of space; it is mainly its soul. The movie not specifically based on space or astronauts; at times it shows the horror of being lost in the space, whereas in the next scene the emotional nature of a mother is being shown in the movie, a mother who lost her child. The movie shows a high tech version of wilderness survival that takes place among the stars and that would probably fit perfectly on a double-bill alongside ‘127 Hours’, ‘Rescue Dawn’, ‘Cast Away’ or ‘Deliverance’. Additionally, the movie explores the emotional interiors and letting the faces and the voices of actor’s carry the internal meaning of the scenes. In the movie the agonizing situation of the astronauts due to the accident was not highlighted. Instead of that the movie keeps showing the deep feelings of the character Dr. Ryan Stone along with Matt Kowalski. When the debris destroyed the telescope and Dr. Stone finds her in the dark space alone then how efficiently her senior astronaut finds her is a very inspirational scene. With the scene the soundtrack of breathing and anxious heartbeat is quite exceptional. Also the hiss sound of the thruster jetpacks can be felt in the atmosphere. It is simply impressive (Delfiner). Other technical aspects of the movie are very innovative. The Isis, an extraordinary camera mount is highly appreciable which allows the camera to whirl and twist around the actors. Added to it the silence of space has played a huge part to convey the emotions of the roles in the film. Most interestingly apart from the conventional movies where the artists have the facility of walking the ground, in the movie the actors have to play a role to justify as if they are in the space. This is one the most amazing part of the movie. In the mean time it can be said that in the past few years there are hardly another mass-audience movie that has so much stylistic and technological convections other than ‘Gravity’. Possibly ‘Avatar’, ’The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ have used these type of filming that are way beyond conventional. Most of the Hollywood movies it can be seen that the movies are two parallel plotlines one them being romance for certainly. But in the case of ‘Gravity’ there is primarily one plotting which emphases the situation of how to save the life of actors. To balance the plot thrill, suspense and fear of the situation is created in the movie (James et al.). Although a mild flirtation between Kowalski and Stone has been shown in a scene, it is probably to generate humor and to reduce the tension. These things are quite unnatural in the movie. Apart from that the minimal characterization can be seen in the fact that the audience would never understand the nature of experiment of Dr. Stone. That should be the most logical and important goal for the character of Dr. Stone. For another instance before the collision of debris Dr. Stone remarks, “I’m used to a basement lab in a hospital where trays fall to the floor.”  She also responses that “It’s designed for hospital use.” Now here a question comes. Here we cannot get an idea of the type of her job and most surprisingly it is not understandable that why a medical experiment has been attached to the telescope (ESCH). There is possibly no logic to defend the experiment. Incidentally, a few more questions are left in mind like whether the experiment of Dr. Stone was successful in spite of the tragic mishap as there might be possibility that the Hubble Space Telescope may be survived the debris. These things remain in suspense as the movie does not show the results. However, there are a number of important action parts that has been shown in the most possible vivid way. The movement of the characters in the space through jetpacks and the physicality of spacewalk are presented in most accurate manner. Additionally the comfort of starting a motion and the difficulties in stopping in the space is accurately filmed in the movie. That is quite exceptional indeed. In other scenes when Dr. Stone gives her best to reach the capsule and her efforts shown in the movie for her survival is simply outstanding pieces of acting. All the actions related to the survival show the immense situational demand which helps Dr. Stone to get back to earth. At the climax scene the intensity to swim ashore and the belief of survival of Dr. Stone is filmed in a very appreciable manner that also adds a definite direction to film. The acting and the direction have to be appreciated for the work. Possibly the movie can also show more space research and technical aspects that was the main and most important mission aspect of Dr Stone.

Conclusion

The movie ‘Gravity’ perhaps showcases most prolific visual effects of space the audience have ever experienced but there are several aspects that remained untouched in the movie. Probably a few more definite challenges and goals can be analyzed in the movie. Perhaps the movie transforms into a survival type of movie in the darkness of space. A place from where Dr. Stone should not be come out alive. But the plot, the screenplay and the visual effects are simply out of the box that has to be accepted. However the innovative idea applied on the movie to show the intensity of life inside the human beings is probably that most important factor of ‘Gravity’.

References

Delfiner, Pierre. 'Uncertainty In Prospect Evaluation: Lessons From The Movie Industry'. Bulletin 92.10 (2008): 1415-1429. Web.
ESCH, KEVIN. 'Movie Acting: The Film Reader: Movie Acting: The Film Reader'. Film Quarterly59.1 (2005): 62-63. Web.
Graf, Heiko et al. 'Development, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Movie-Based Curriculum To Teach Psychopathology'. Teaching and Learning in Medicine 26.1 (2014): 86-89. Web.
James, Oliver et al. 'Gravitational Lensing By Spinning Black Holes In Astrophysics, And In The Movie Interstellar'. Classical and Quantum Gravity 32.6 (2015): 065001. Web.
Shaw, Bret R., Allison Howell, and Ken Genskow. 'Evaluation Of A Movie Theater Advertisement Campaign To Promote Behaviors That Prevent Spread Of Aquatic Invasive Species'. Society & Natural Resources 27.7 (2014): 768-776. Web.
You, Yea Li, and 김승인. 'Evaluation Of Usability For Mobile Video Production Application - Focus On Road Movie And Snap Movie -'. Journal of Digital Design 14.3 (2014): 285-294. Web.