Dir:

Alfonso Cuaron

With: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney

Runtime: 91 minutes

SPACE. As a final frontier it is so yesterday, is it not? Previous generations thrilled to shaky television shots of a US astronaut making one small step for mankind, but today, when we can travel the world from behind a computer screen, all that venturing forth seems, well, ever so workaday. Might as well rub two sticks together for kicks as look to the skies in search of excitement. Then along comes Gravity to give everyone a kick up the expectations.

Alfonso Cuaron's thriller is technically sensational, no question. As space movies go, it makes Kubrick's classic odyssey look like a very rough diamond. But where Gravity truly excels is in the business of entertaining. At just 91 minutes long it is an old-fashioned viewing experience in which one becomes lost in the story to the exclusion of all else.

The director of Children of Men and Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban wastes no time in setting up what is a simple tale of office life. In this case, however, the office in question is 400 miles above Earth, so the view is somewhat more exciting than a car park or the office block next door.

The staff are on routine duties, measuring this, securing that, taking readings from the other. This is not the space of the future, this is a right here, right now working environment. Space might have a lot of office space left, but the Americans, Russians and Chinese have already staked their claims to the best spots.

Like any office, this one offers a range of characters. Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) is an old timer on his last mission. Dr Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) comes from the opposite end of the experience scale. The newbie scientist to Kowalski's blue-space-collar technician, she is rapidly finding out that life "up there" is even tougher, physically and mentally, than they told her in training school.

It is hardly an original set up, the newcomer and the veteran, and it won't be the first time in the film when one wonders if Cuaron, working from his own script (co-written with his son, Jonas) has truly succeeded in putting a fresh spin on familiar themes and devices. But those thoughts bubble up only after one has left the cinema. In the thick of the drama you will be too engrossed to care.

On the day goes, with the crew's movements being directed from Earth by a mission controller (Ed Harris: Mr Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff himself). There is just one hiccup, however: no-one has told the fates this is meant to be a hum-drum day. Something menacing this way comes, and be they newbie or old timer, the crew must deal with it. All I will say is it is not a photocopier jam.

Cuaron, working in 3D, uses every millimetre of the screen to get across a sense of vastness. Though he works in close up for the human drama, we can always see the boundless, black, empty hinterland beyond. Humans, for all that the screenplay will strive to make us care about them, are but specks of dust, insignificant others in this, the grandest scheme of things.

While the scale is epic there is meticulous attention to detail. The cameras go everywhere, even inside the astronauts' helmets to take a peek out, allowing the audience to see what the characters see. Earth is a brilliant ball of light, ever changing, always mesmerising. You could stare at these scenes for hours, but Cuaron is not running a light show at a science museum here: he has a story to be getting on with and, heavens, does he go at it full pelt.

Just when you think it might be time for a breather, the story ups the ante once more, throwing new twists into the mix. Again, while part of the brain recognises how skilfully one is being manipulated, the rest of the mind does not give a hoot, such is the fun and sheer entertainment to be had. This is Jaws in space, Indiana Jones in the stratosphere, a consummate thrill ride from start to finish.

Clooney does not have a lot to do other than be his usual charming self, with the script managing to have some fun with his image. He is not as thrilling a sight as Earth, but he will do. It is Bullock who does the heavy dramatic lifting, and she makes an outstanding job of it. From slight beginnings she develops her character into a person with a past, a present and a future we care about. Bullock tends to alternate her movies between comedies and dramas, and here she brings every skill to the party.

Gravity is a movie one could happily see twice - once for the spectacle, once for the masterclass in story telling. It's a great reason to break free of the computer screen this weekend and head to the movies. There is a big, wide, brilliantly rendered space out there, just waiting to be explored.