Since Gravity was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, one of our local theatres has given it a second chance on the big screen. I admit, it took a bit of insisting to get hubby to go. “What’s it about?” He asked, and when I explained it is about an astronaut who is trying to get home after a space shuttle disaster, hubby wasn’t interested. Yes, I know, it has a been there, done that plot. Having seen Apollo 13, and some lesser films, all with that same basic plot line, I did understand his lack of enthusiasm. Of course, Sandra Bullock isn’t as young as she used to be. And, once you have seen Star Trek or Star Wars, the space shuttle is just so primitive.

Many (mostly amateur) critics have listed all of the stuff that just couldn’t happen, from the lack of diapers on Bullock’s bod to the detachable helmet on the cosmonaut space suit. The lists are lengthy and many of the assertions that “it just wouldn’t happen like that” are correct. Even with all of that, I enjoyed the film. It is in (almost) real time, which is kinda cool. There are some killer f/x showing how things are in a weightless environment, and I do think that is the groundbreaking aspect of this film. It will make you believe, if only for a few moments, that you are in space, right alongside the stars (take that either way.) The dialogue is rather sparse, and sometimes just plain silly, but in real life people can say the stupidest things.

Any film that can get people talking about space exploration again is worth a look. This one does a remarkable job of making a perilous situation quite suspenseful, but with a sufficient glimmer of hope that the audience can hang on for a “happy” ending.

Perhaps it doesn’t deserve a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it does deserve a look for any who wants to see what it is like in space.