NewbSaibot United States. Oct 07 2013 23:46. Posts 4946
So this blog is going to be a geek whine fest for sci-fi films. Some of you may have heard of a new movie that was just released called Gravity.
The following trailer pretty much sums up the entire movie and basically spoils everything
The rest of this blog will be filled with spoilers. Anyway it has only 2 characters in the entire film depicting a couple of astronauts doing routine space shit. The movie got a lot of people hyped due to the impressive trailer depicting excellent special fx and attention to details, namely their attention to physics. Unfortunately thats about all this movie is, just a demonstration in physics simulations and how difficult maneuvering in zero G can be. The movie was cool and all and I liked it, but there didnt seem to be much point to what was happening. There wasnt any kind of story. Routine mission goes bad due to totally implausible satellite detonation by the Russians, and now there's debris flying everywhere. The orbiting debris around the earth is what gives pause for suspense to build before the debris makes its return and causes more destruction.
The problem without any sort of story is that it's hard to empathize with the characters. Each event is nothing more than a vehicle to set up the next challenge. "Oh crap the shuttle is destroyed, better get to the space station. Oh shit the space station is destroyed, better get to the chinese space station. Goddamn now thats destroyed, better return to earth." There is no grand scheme or anything you're waiting for, other than for the characters to either die or be rescued. George Clooney plays George Clooney the sexy astronaut. It's pretty unbelievable that any astronaut would behave the way he does, but I guess they wanted something in there to break the tension.
You see the problem with a movie like this is that the director wanted it to be as realistic as possible with the phenomenal effects, yet creates this impossible situation and silly character that are complete fiction. The whole crux of the movie is that the Russians inexplicably launch a missile to destroy one of their own satellites. It's not too far fetched, but it's also not the kind of thing that is done at the drop of the hat precisely due to potential debris fields created causing problems for other nations. I know we're not exactly on the best of terms with Russia, but I still dont think they would risk something like this knowing they could endanger American lives. I mean China did this very thing a few years ago, and the USA was fully notified so that they could be sure there would be no risk to the ISS or other missions. What China did was a little different and just a test of anti-satellite technology, but still this whole idea that the Russians lost a very important satellite and just HAD to blow it up RIGHT NOW and then obliterate the ISS in the process is laughable. That'd be like launching a nuke to blow up Red October and then taking out the Statue of Liberty with it and go "whoops our bad guys".
The Russians would never launch a missile to destroy a rogue satellite without at least notifying the United States of the potential for damage. And even if they did the USA would be on high alert and abort any space walk on the off-change such a weapon caused a debris field which is the #1 threat of satellite destruction. So annnnyyyyway, debris from a poorly executed satellite demolition destroys the shuttle and each of their failback escape methods one by one so that the astronauts just cant get a break. And while the film prides itself on realism, they then depict Clooney chasing Sandra down with a jetpack for what must have taken an hour to attempt, and then have her use a fire extinguisher in space when no jetpack is available to hurl herself towards the ISS. I kinda knew from the beginning that this movie would be like "2001 Space Odyssey: For Amatuers who dont understand the vacuum of space". They preface the movie before the starting credits informing people that there is no sound in space, since I'm sure most dumb audience members would be like "hey something is wrong with the surround sound, I just saw an explosion and didnt hear anything!".
So, without trying to lose the audience with hyper realism they toss in a few hero moments when in reality if the shuttle were destroyed everyone would just die in 60 minutes. Even the re-entry to earth was laughable and should have resulted in her instant death (recovery pod is tumbling through the atmosphere on fire for quite some time before correcting trajectory and using its heat shield properly. If this were to really happen I'm pretty sure the hull would be penetrated immediately and she'd die, like what happened with the Columbia tragedy)
Anyway if you want to see some impressive special fx with ridiculous levels of detail (the debris from the ISS being struck must literally have thousands of independently animated objects per frame) you'll like the movie. I guess you could consider this a bit of a rant, but only because the movie is getting such high regard. It's a neat movie but it's riddled with flaws, the kind that cant be forgiven since more realistic space flight movies have already been done so this movie isnt even meeting expectations imo.
0 votes
bye now
Last edit: 08/10/2013 00:09
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Gnarly United States. Oct 07 2013 23:51. Posts 1723
I HATE THAT SANDRA BULLOCK TOOK OVER FOR THE LEAD GIRL FROM PROMETHEUS I HATE EVERYTHING FUCK FUCK FUCK
Diversify or fossilize!
Last edit: 07/10/2013 23:52
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NewbSaibot United States. Oct 07 2013 23:54. Posts 4946
Oh yeah the lead girl in Prometheus would have been a MUCH better casting. I guess since she has an Oscar locked up she can pull in the big bucks. All of her scenes are completely devoid of emotion. Just reading from a script.
bye now
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NewbSaibot United States. Oct 08 2013 00:06. Posts 4946
One thing I'll say that was pretty inventive was their use of music to emphasize sound in space. See the director has obviously taken a science class or two and knows that in the vacuum of space there is no sound. He also knows that most people wont accept that and become bored of completely muted action sequences. Some sci-fi films have simply taken the route to "soften" the fx of sound in space. For example the Battlestar Galactica series in an attempt to appease the sci-fi whiners like me for some reason, decided that all of the explosions and gunfire and ship wreckage would be dampened so that all you kind of heard were muffled versions of what you saw. This was kinda cool and I noticed it right away and appreciated their attempt to appeal to geeks while still being mainstream.
Gravity indeed mutes everything, and it's interesting to hear the way things sound from within the astronauts suits, which I presume is accurate. When they touch things, use tools, and so forth, there is some reverberation back into their suits which translates into sound. Imagine using drill underwater or something. You know it's there even if your eyes were closed, it just sounds different. But thats not the point. What I'm talking about is when things blow up or get smashed and the astronaut is nowhere near it. The music score is tuned such that all the big drum cymbals and violin strokes coincide visually, to kind of give the scenes that extra "mmmph!" when something major happens. It's a way to provide sound fx where there should be none. Although I still found the DEAD SILENCE of Kubrick's Space Odyssey to be far more creepy.
I didnt read what you wrote but if i had to guess id say gravity fuckn blew. Its pretty obvious the only exciting parts were in the 10 second commercials leading up to its release. The fact that people rushed out and saw this garbage fascinates me.
Twisted Netherlands. Oct 08 2013 15:06. Posts 10422
Thought it was awesome. Of course there's stuff that's kind of coincidental and just fiction and not allowed to happen etc.etc. yada yada, but if you go into the movie fresh it's a very exciting thrill ride.
I enjoyed it immensely because of the graphics and the suspense. The entertainment factor of a movie to me is way more important than nitpicking on details, and I was thoroughly entertained.
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Netherlands. Oct 08 2013 15:06. Posts 10422
