Jackson Free Press

"Gravity" reaches into the void of eternal space and sucks you into a black hole of anxiety. I was absolutely terrified. The fascinating thing about this film is that it succeeds magnificently on a cosmic scale and on a human level. It's a think piece, a science-fiction thriller and a showcase of technology. It reminds us of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" in its audacity but stands on its own as an original work.

Director Alfonso Cuaron, who co-wrote the script with his son Jonas, constructs for the screen space without noise and a universe without limits. It seems so real that it is hard to imagine the technological hurdles Cuaron and his team faced to achieve this cinematic recreation. I look forward to a documentary on the process.

In "Gravity," Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a medical engineer, tinkers with the Hubble telescope, while Commander Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) zips around in his jet pack. Beneath them, the home planet looms in hues of blue, green and brown.

"Houston, I have a bad feeling about this mission," Kowalski says, jokingly, to Mission Control back on Earth. Mission control (voiced by Ed Harris in a nod to "Apollo 13") copies that, and they reminisce on stories told so often that they are part of a bond between the experienced Kowalski and the Earth-based team. Stone, though, is new and doesn't know the drill, yet. She listens in through her headset. Another astronaut (Phaldut Sharma) does a no-gravity version of the Macarena.

The playful mood shifts when Mission Control announces that dangerous debris from a Russian satellite is quickly heading their way. The debris pelts the ship, causing irreparable damage. Stone spins off the ship into space. She gasps for breath. We gasp with her. It's a spellbinding, hair-raising sequence, but this is only the beginning of a long series of bad things to come. "Gravity" accelerates and intensifies until it becomes a rare mingling of lyric poetry and macabre farce. You must suspend your disbelief. The rules of quantum physics do not apply.

The movie would not work without Bullock and Clooney. They bring with them their effervescent personalities and buoyant charm. Clooney provides a necessary calm before the storm. Bullock is the film's heart. It is essential that we identify with Bullock's character and connect with her emotional roller coaster as she finds herself adrift in outer space. Life and death hang in the balance.

This is a journey that audiences should experience for themselves. To describe what happens may diminish the experience.

This is an experiential film. Cuaron creates a unique movie experience through long takes and the absence of sound. Through custom-made machinery, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki captures the grace, beauty and weightlessness of space. Bullock's character, appropriately named Stone, provides the gravitas.

The greatest achievement is that you'll come out of the theater not dull and depressed the way you feel after movies that insult your intelligence, but restored and thankful to be back on Earth.

I don't think I could sit through this film again. It was too thrilling.