Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris
Running Time: 91 Minutes
Certificate: 12A
Medical engineer Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) are stranded in space following a catastrophic accident which sees their space shuttle destroyed.
That’s the very basic, one line synopsis which sums up the basis for this much applauded space drama from CHILDREN OF MEN director Alfonso Cuarón . Of course, the film goes much deeper than that, but to tell you more about the story of this superb, highly-technical, thought provoking, gripping, 90-minute wonder, would completely ruin the experience. That said, surely there can’t be too many more people yet to see this Oscar-nominated epic from the celebrated Mexican director? Right?
Well, if you are one of the very few that haven’t seen GRAVITY as yet, and indeed marveled at its genius, then this superb high-definition, home release from Warner Brothers is the answer to your pain. Fears that the ‘GRAVITY experience’ was lost in translation to the smaller screen are instantly diminished as one bears witness to the jaw-dropping 12-and-a-half minute opening scene. Everything about the Blu-Ray release is stunning, just like the movie itself, from the foreboding, though sometimes deafeningly silen soundtrack to the crisp, pin-sharp visuals. It’s true, the experience of GRAVITY is just as gripping in the home as it was on the massive IMAX screens during its theatrical release.
I could hark on for many paragraphs to tell you what I think about this movie, but just five words will do; GRAVITY is really bloody good, and the filmmakers have treated us to a bumper collection of extras to talk us through every aspect of bringing the film to the screen on this excellent home release. From conception to screenplay, from pre-vis and planning through to shooting and post, every stage of production is covered and explained through interviews with Cuarón and his very talented crew. The behind the scenes material is broken down into five-to-tem minute separate featurettes with tons of time given to the geniuses at British company Framestore and their outstanding, award-winning work with the groundbreaking visual effects. In fact, this could be one of the best ‘making of’ features on the home format for many years. Add in the mix the brilliant Jonas Cuarón directed accompanying short, Aningaaq, a belting documentary ‘Collision Point: The Race to Clean Up Space,’ narrated by Ed Harris, and a ton of other features, you can’t help but applaud the studio for really making sure the viewer gets the most for their £15 in terms of extras.
We were expecting a simple, vanilla, no frills release for this excellent film, with perhaps more time dedicated solely to the video and sound transfer, but Warner Brothers have clearly not only delivered on that, but also presented us with one of the most feature packed releases for one of the most highly anticipated films of the year so far.
You must, must own it.
[usr=5] GRAVITY is released on DVD, Blu-Ray, 3D Blu-Ray and Digital Download from 3rd March.
