Of all the characters on this list, Dr. Ryan Stone is the only one that is on screen for almost every second of the movie that she appears in. Stranded alone in the depths of space, Dr. Stone is buoyed by little more than her will to survive. Character strength is only truly worth appreciating when a character is at their weakest, of course: Ryan Stone fights against everything from space junk to crippling loneliness as she floats from station to station. The latter seems almost worse, because she has to fight against her own growing desire to quit and give up. This is one of the most compelling internal struggles depicted on screen this year, as every exertion Stone performs out in the cold balanced by a moment of hopelessness inside the station. Survival stories are unique, for they only require one thing to be great - a character worth rooting for. Dr. Ryan Stone proves that's the case - and more - for the sum of Alfonso Cuaron's pulse-pounding thriller.
Self-evidently a man who writes for the Internet, Robert also writes films, plays, teleplays, and short stories when he's not working on a movie set somewhere. He lives somewhere behind the Hollywood sign.
