Alfonso Cuaron's technically masterful, nerve-jangling space-set drama might well have been a silent movie, save for a few brief conversations between its stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney towards the beginning. Heck, it might even been better served without any dialogue at all, given the strength of the visuals. Cuaron's goal, after all (and one that he achieved to an immeasurably degree) was to transport an audience into space - to bestow upon them the giddy feeling of a world without gravity, and all the problems that go with that tricky territory. As Dr. Ryan Stone, a rookie who accompanies Clooney's grizzled veteran on a mission to repair the Hubble telescope, Bullock is a revelation - desperate without ever being irritating, her performance is the glue that keeps this visual feast held tightly together when a routine mission goes horribly wrong and she's forced into survival mode. For 3D naysayers, Gravity might well be the movie to convince that there's hope for the "gimmick." If this is the cinematic equivalent of a theme park ride, so be it: Gravity is never anything but out of this world from start to finish.
