Gravity
Science Fiction really has been a very strong genre on the big screen this week as we have been treated to a whole host of movies over the last twelve months - it also looks like 2014 is going to follow on that success.
As 2013 ends, we look back over some of the science fiction films that have really stood out and got everyone talking.
- Gravity
No sci-fi film has whipped up a greater storm this year than Gravity… it really has been a movie where no one has had a single bad thing to say about it.
The movie marked the return of Alfonso Cuaron to the director’s chair in what was his first film since the terrific Children of Men.
The look of this movie is simply mesmerising – I promise you that will not see a more beautiful looking film hit the big screen this year. The director really has captured the vastness, emptiness and eeriness of space, and yet it is stunningly beautiful at the same time.
However, it is the central performance from Sandra Bullock - who finds herself stranded in space when a routine spacewalk goes wrong - is what is the driving force behind this film. As much as this is a space disaster film, it is also has a very touching human story at its core.
Bullock gives a heartbreaking turn as a woman who learns that she has to accept what has happened in the past - the death of her daughter - and let go.
Gravity is filmmaking of the highest order as Cuaron has delivered a true technical tour de force to bring space to life.
Gravity was a film that truly lit up the festival circuit and it is set to be a major player during the awards season; don’t be surprised if we see this film waltz off with the Best Picture prize.
- Elysium
Elysium is a movie that I had personally been looking forward to as it marked the return of Neill Blomkamp to the director’s chair for the first time since District 9. District 9 marked the directorial debut for Blomkamp, and he was returning to the sci-fi genre with this new movie.
Elysium was a movie that perhaps didn’t win everyone over, but I was a huge fan and in no way did it disappoint for me.
The movie is set in the future where the rich live off world on Elysium, while the rest struggle for survival on a decaying and dying world. Elysium follows Max (Matt Damon), who battles to get to Elysium to save his own life and change the lives of everyone on earth forever.
This is another dystopian sci-fi flick that shows the world as unbalanced and unfair; the rich can live in luxury while the poor are left to suffer and struggle on what little they have. Blomkamp is a director who is not afraid to tackle there bigger questions, and there is a real moral heart at the central of this action film.
With this movie, Blomkamp really does cement himself as a master of the sci-fi genre as he creates images and moments that we have not seen in this genre before. Thrown in another great central performance from the fab Matt Damon and you have a movie that shouldn’t be missed.
- Cloud Atlas
Another sci-fi film that I really loved came at the beginning of the year in the form of Cloud Atlas: a big screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by David Mitchell.
I have to admit that I was not a huge fan of the book, but Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski have adapted it to create something that is far superior to the novel.
Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future.
This is a sprawling, epic and ambitious movie that is totally captivating from start to finish. This is the most original film that has hit the big screen and is a breathe of fresh air when we are plagued by rehashes and remakes.
Cloud Atlas does not let up for a minute as it jumps from story to story and character to character and yet it never loses sight of the story that it is trying to tell and the conclusion that it is trying to reach.
A wonderful cast has been assembled as the likes of Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, Jim Sturgess and Ben Whishaw appear time and time again in a whole host of different guises; but can you spot them all?
Cloud Atlas really is bold filmmaking from a trio of very brave, determined and visionary filmmakers and their work should be applauded as well as admired.
Other sci-fi films that have been fab this year include Star Trek Into Darkness, Pacific Rim, Oblivion and Riddick.