Thoughts on the movie gravity

[TheSaint]

KSP PLAYERS REACTION OF GRAVITY

Gravity was such a failure with physics (George Cloony falling away scene), The stupidity of how close all the space stations were, and just plain stupid basics that the script writers said "meh, they'll NEVER know, they'll all be distracted by George Cloony and Sandra Bullock (or watevs)

AVERAGE JOE'S REACTION

So that's why we never went to the moon! And George Cloony is getting old, but classy...

LOL

You do realize that without those key features of the script, the whole movie would end in the first 5 minutes, right? If you think you could do better, do it. I dare you.

I am not a screenwriter. (Thank the Lord.) To me the entire script was flawed from the get-go and should never have been made. However, I do know enough about the industry to tell you how a movie like that gets made.

Somewhere, a screenwriter gets the idea. He probably saw a newscast about the ISS maneuvering to avoid space debris, or about all the space debris that was generated when the Navy tested their anti-satellite missile a couple of years back. He probably hadn't even thought about physics since he almost failed it in high school, but he does some Google searches and reads some Wikipedia articles and realizes that things in orbit are going around the Earth and not just hanging there, which as far as he is concerned makes him an expert in the field. His name is probably not even on the movie, he probably sold the script or an extensive treatment to someone else. It may have changed hands several times before it even got to anyone you've ever even heard of. (The official story on Gravity is that Alfonso Curaon wrote the script himself, which is entirely possible. But also remember, Hollywood's business is making up stories....) But eventually, somehow, it gets into the hands of someone that people in Hollywood buy scripts from, and he pitches it to a studio.

A mid-level studio executive thinks that physics is something like aerobics, and he doesn't do either of them. He looks at this script and he thinks nuts and bolts. He's thinking budget, things like, "How many big-ticket leads does this script need?" or, "How many foreign location shoots does this script need?" He also wants it to be accessible (read "dumbed-down") and exciting (read "lots of explosions"). He buys the orbital debris plot device hook-line-and-sinker. He had no idea that things in space went around the Earth, he thinks his boss is going to think he's some kind of genius when he pitches this. He pitches the idea to his senior exec (who also had no idea that things in space went around the Earth, but there's no way he's going to let his subordinate know that), and for any number of reasons which may or may not include "this script will make a good movie", the project gets greenlighted.

Now they start production. They start cutting checks. They sign leads, a director, a producer, a screenwriter to clean up the script (which everyone involved thinks is awful because they didn't write it), a cinematographer, an editor, assistants for all of the above who will do all of the crap work that they don't want to do, second assistants who will do all of the crap work the assistants don't want to do, and hundreds of trades, cameramen, sound techs, electricians, grips, caterers, PAs, ad infinitum.

And a technical consultant. And 45 minutes into the eleventh production meeting he will look up from the script, which he has just read over for the first time, raise his hand, and say, "Uh, this plot device, the one about the orbital debris. It, kinda, doesn't work that way in real life." And the First Unit Second Assistant Director, who is running this particular production meeting because the First Unit Assistant Director had a 10:30 tee time, says, "Well, that's all well and good. Unfortunately, I have Mr. Clooney on set in an hour filming his reaction to that very same space debris. So why don't you sit down with the Second Assistant Screenwriter and see if you can fix that in a way that will not ruffle a principal or impact my production schedule in any way shape or form, and get your big green rubber stamp warmed up if you can't, m'kay?"

Which (I would hazard to guess) is why they got all the "window dressing" items like the micro-G and vacuum effects right, but the glaring central plot points like the orbital debris, the unmanned Shenzhou, etc, stayed in. The window dressing stuff was all taken care of in post-production, it didn't really impact the principals. They were all like, "Yeah, sure, we could do that. That would look cool."

If you want to see a movie where they did a decent (not great, but decent) job of realistically generating drama and character development in a near-future hard science fiction film, watch Europa Report, I think it's streaming on Netflix still.

I don't understand the jaded hatred towards this movie. OK, it's not the best movie of all times, but it's among the greatest pieces of SF ever filmed. Does such superiority turn some people into nitpicking twats? Amount of things where you'd have to close your eyes because of factual errors was negligible compared to 99% of all movies dealing with space. Saying it's "the worst film ever" is nothing short of an idiotic statement, and it's not my subjective opinion. Worst movies ever don't get a load of Oscars.

It's not even close to the worst movie ever, I never said it was. I wouldn't even put it in the bottom 50%. I wouldn't describe my feelings towards it as 'hatred', more like, 'disappointment'. In fact, when I first saw the trailers I was really excited, I wanted to see it in the theaters but we don't really get out much in this stage of our lives. The reason I had such a bad reaction is that it had such promise! Sure, Star Wars, Star Trek, and all of the mainstream SF films are filled with a bunch of groaners. If you walk into one of those films expecting a physics lesson you deserve to be disappointed. But everything about Gravity was promising us reality. And it just didn't deliver.

And, the Oscars? Seriously? If you think the Oscars (or any other awards show, for that matter) have anything to do with who made the best movies you really don't understand how Hollywood works. Google "Oscar bump". When the voting members get their ballots the last thing on their minds is who made the best movie. They're thinking politics. Who do they owe a favor, who owes them a favor. Oh, so-and-so has been such a good Joe for so many years, his career is almost over, his last role sucked but let's throw him a bone and vote for him anyway. Oh, so-and-so said such-and-such about me, I don't care if they cure cancer I'm still not voting for them. Call up Bob, "Hey, Bob, my script is sitting on your desk. If I vote for your movie, you think you could take a second look at it?" Just remember: Annie Hall! Best Movie of 1977! What a joke.

[Fingal]

OK, it's not the best movie of all times,

Yes it is

You know what makes it even better? The scene where George Clooney lets go brought all the know-it-alls (including Neil deGrasse Tyson), who decided to show off about how smart they were by never shutting up about how it doesn't conform to the laws of physics when in fact, if they'd paid just that little bit more attention they might have realised that it does.

[lajoswinkler]

Yes it is

You know what makes it even better? The scene where George Clooney lets go brought all the know-it-alls (including Neil deGrasse Tyson), who decided to show off about how smart they were by never shutting up about how it doesn't conform to the laws of physics when in fact, if they'd paid just that little bit more attention they might have realised that it does.

Thank you.

[PakledHostage]

I don't understand the jaded hatred towards this movie. ... Worst movies ever don't get a load of Oscars.

This movie was obviously very polarizing. I and many others hated it, while some loved it. Maybe we'll all have to agree to disagree.

I can look past the physics inaccuracies, such as they are, but I can't look past the bad plot. I stand by what I wrote in the Gravity Movie --- Factual mistakes and goofs thread last spring.

Notwithstanding the internal politics in the Academy, movies get Oscars for technical merit, for good acting and for having good stories. Gravity was very strong technically and was rewarded accordingly. It rightfully didn't do so well in the best acting, screenplay and best picture categories.

In my opinion, the plot, acting and character development left a lot to be desired. It was cringe inducing for my wife and I. Rarely does a movie that is trying to be serious leave me laughing so innapropriately. It was almost as bad as Vertical Limit in that regard.

Edited January 30, 2015 by PakledHostage
Accidentally quoted wrong post in my response

[SpaceXray]

Why is that?

Because not every person in the world lives in MURICA! where you have an Imax theater in almost every city. Here in Europe the closest one for me is a 1.5 hour flight across the sea. Even in a major city like Paris there are only 2, and 1 is in a museum.

[GoSlash27]

I try to suspend my disbelief and not nit- pick movies so I can enjoy them, but this one was so wonky I just wasn't able to do it.

The changes in volume between the sound effects and dialogue were also highly distracting.

It had a lot of breathtaking scenery and nifty special effects, but overall I didn't enjoy it much.

Best,

-Slashy