thoughts on Gravity-- IMAX 3D (spoilers)

So, prior to this, the movies I'd seen in 3D were limited to Gnomeo and Juliet, Thor, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and the relatively recent rerelease of Titanic.  I only saw Gnomeo and Juliet in 3D out of convenience; now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not even sure if I saw Thor in 3D or if it just seems that way because it gave me a headache ("Why is everything so loud?," I kept wondering); I didn't care for Alice in Wonderland, period, 3D or no 3D; and it was fun seeing Titanic again on the big screen, but the 3D didn't really add anything to it.  In other words-- not so impressed with the 3D, usually.  However, I'd been told that 3D was the way to see Gravity, and we have an IMAX here in Evansville, so I figured I'd go for the total movie-going experience.  In fact, that's what I was hoping for: a total movie-going experience.  To explain that further: I love seeing movies in the theater.  I'll see a movie in the theater that I would never bother to watch on DVD.  Why?  It's an EXPERIENCE-- you eat popcorn and drink soda (which I almost never do, in my normal daily life).  You're immersed in the film for a couple of hours, no cell phone, no Facebook, no getting up to unload the dishwasher or water the plants or do any of the little things I often find myself doing when watching TV or movies at home.  You usually have some friends with you, and even if you're there by yourself, there's a feeling that you're doing something in a way that there isn't when you're just hanging out watching TV at home: you got out of the house and you went to see a movie.  And probably, you had a good time, even if the movie wasn't your favorite.

Being in IMAX 3D and taking place in outer space (a place that very few of us will ever get to go), Gravity had more potential than most films to be a total, immersive movie-going experience.  I'm happy to say that it didn't disappoint.

Sandra Bullock plays Ryan Stone, who The Internet tells me is a "medical engineer" (all I could have told you based on the film itself is that she is referred to as Dr. Stone, we are told she works at a hospital in her normal daily life, and she doesn't have much training/experience as an astronaut).  George Clooney plays Matt Kowalski, an experienced astronaut.  Through a series of unfortunate events, just before they are about to head back to Earth, they are left the only two remaining members of their crew, literally floating out in space, tethered to each other, fighting for survival.  After a time (spoiler alert!), Ryan must let Matt go, and she is left alone to try to reenter her spacecraft...then make it to a neighboring space station...then make it back to Earth.  This film chronicles how she does so.

Interestingly, the film that this reminded me most of was 127 Hours, a.k.a. the film where James Franco cuts off his own arm.  That film was about James Franco's character, Aron Ralston, finding himself in a life-or-death situation and finally getting desperate enough to do what he needs to do to survive.  It's a very good film featuring a very good performance from Franco; with the exception of a couple of women he briefly spends time with at the beginning of the film and characters we see in flashback, he's basically the only actor in the film, meaning that he has to carry it.  Here, Bullock and Clooney are the only actors we spend any significant time with at all, and the stakes are heightened by the literally out-of-this-world setting: Ryan and Matt are dealing with a lack of gravity, as well as dangerous fluctuations in temperature, oxygen, and carbon dioxide levels.  There is also more action here, as Ryan has to learn to deal with changes in circumstance and make a series of quick, life or death decisions.

It's an emotional and physical rollercoaster, everyone.  I was hunkering down in my seat.  I was fighting tears.  I was sometimes on the verge of whispering advice.  This is what I mean by "total movie-going experience"; I felt like I'd been through something at the end of it.  The 3D helps with this, making the action more immediate.  Additionally, Bullock's performance is very good.  She doesn't usually tend to choose movies that are particularly interesting to me, in general, but I think she's established that she can carry a film, and that's absolutely necessary here.  I really think this is a movie that you should see in IMAX 3D if you can, but it will be interesting to see how this plays on DVD, when you are less immersed in the movie-going experience and her performance really does have to carry the whole thing.  I'm betting in that case, the film will be less engrossing/exciting but still very good.