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Gravity | 2013 | PG-13 | - 1.5.5

A space walk by two American astronauts (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) goes tragically wrong when an explosion propels one of them beyond the reach of their space shuttle. With communications cut off from Mission Control (voiced by Ed Harris), the shuttle is destroyed by Russian satellite debris, stranding both astronauts in deep space and with limited oxygen. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. [1.30]

SEX/NUDITY 1 - A male astronaut on an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) hooks a tether to a female astronaut and says, "I know you're impressed with how good-looking I am" and she says nothing. A male astronaut drifting away from a female astronaut in deep space says to her over the helmet radios, "Now that we have some distance between us, you're attracted to me, right?" and she does not answer. We hear that a male astronaut's wife left him between two space missions. A man tells a woman that a girlfriend he was to meet at Mardi Gras was walking down the street, holding hands with another woman that looked at first like a hairy guy.
 In several scenes, a female astronaut in a space station wears only tight spandex short-shorts and a tight fitting tank top (we see the curves of her body as well as cleavage and bare shoulders, arms and legs to the thigh). A woman removes her spacesuit in two different scenes to reveal short-shorts and a tank top that reveal the curves of her body as well as cleavage and bare shoulders, arms and legs to the upper thigh.

VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - We hear that an astronaut is dead and another astronaut bumps against his floating body several times, grabs him, and looks into his helmet visor where we see a large hole that extends through the front of the helmet, the entire right side of the skull and face and out the back of the helmet and we see that the brain case appears red-rimmed with blood and empty (we see the stars in the black sky through the hole); the astronaut and another astronaut take the body back to the shuttle, they find it peeled open and run into two more dead astronauts floating amid equipment parts (their skin is mottled bluish-purple and looks to be freezing).
 A robotic arm attached to a space shuttle is struck by space debris and disconnected from the ship, along with equipment and gear and is all thrown away in a debris field backed by flashes of light from the explosions that seem to blow out toward the audience and an astronaut spinning away on the robotic arm gasps and grunts, panicking, and whispering that she cannot breathe; she releases her harness and sails end-over-end away from the shuttle in the wake of the silent explosions as we hear her panicky breathing and see wide, terror-filled eyes as she says her GPS is inoperable; her transparent face plate fogs up and we see a red WARNING signal flash inside her helmet as we hear that her oxygen is running low and from her point of view, we see space as she spins, creating a dizzying effect; her commander tells her calm down and focus on something as he uses his power pack to approach her and tether her to his own spacesuit.
 Two astronauts plan to drift to a space station and pilot a shuttle with little fuel to another station where they will take a fueled shuttle back to Earth; one astronaut says that she is scared and asks several times what to do as they float and their air and jet-pack fuel supplies run low; she becomes light-headed and sleepy because she is breathing C02, the two astronauts bump the space station, bounce on and off several times and spin away as their tether to each other breaks and one astronaut drifts until the other astronaut drifts past; after one astronaut catches the other astronaut's tether, one astronaut tells the other to let go, because jet-pack fuel and air are limited, and only slowing down both; one astronaut then unhooks the tether and floats away.
 An astronaut enters a space shuttle that she is able to start and fly away from a space station that disintegrates as debris hits it and causes silent explosions of light and dust; it is so cold inside the shuttle that she shivers and we see her breath and when she begins to cry her skin looks like it is freezing, bluish and translucent as her tears form balls and glide toward the audience; she hears a man's voice singing over the radio and a baby crying as she turns off the oxygen and the lights and drifts to sleep; she is awakened by oxygen emergency alarms and she turns the oxygen and lights back on, then separates the cockpit capsule from the rest of the shuttle and heads toward Earth; she shakes, cries and then laughs as the capsule shakes and becomes overheated, the control panel erupts in flames (she is not burned) and we see debris in the sky burn up around the capsule as it enters the atmosphere and flames surround the capsule as well.
 An astronaut hears a roaring fire in the space station and sees the warning sign light up; she uses a fire extinguisher that throws her against a bulkhead and leaving her with a cut and a bruise on the cheek as she shouts; huge flames advance toward her as she enters a space shuttle, locks the airlock and takes off but is caught by an already-deployed parachute line and is bounced back toward the space station while shouting, "Stop!" five times and avoiding a collision by a few feet.
 A space capsule crashes into the ocean where an astronaut pops the entrance door and water rushes in, sinking the capsule about 30 feet as the astronaut gasps and coughs; the astronaut swims out, and up until breaking the water's surface with a loud gasp and then swims to shore.
 A drifting astronaut experiences alternating periods of claustrophobia and agoraphobia, with several instances of rapid breathing and startle responses; she continues to talk into her helmet microphone in case mission control can hear her and another astronaut talks her through entering a space station successfully; she bounces on the outside of the space station, pulls herself along hand grips, opens the airlock, floats inside, pressurizes the chamber, removes her helmet and gasps loudly several times from oxygen deprivation.
 Three astronauts on an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) receive word from ground control that a dangerous debris shower is approaching and they are ordered to abort the mission and re-enter their space shuttle; 3D effects put the audience inside a field of debris from an exploding satellite that we hear was shot down by the Russians and we hear that all the ComSats of North America are dead; large and small pieces of metal debris fly by and we hear that the debris is like shrapnel as it cuts apart the space shuttle silently, with flashes of light and dust and the shuttle is peeled open down its long axis.
 An astronaut floats in a space station among equipment and office items to the control panels and we see a circuit board beginning to burn in a side compartment (small balls of flame float toward the audience, as well as balls of condensation); the astronaut finds a radio panel and radios mission control but receives no response. A shuttle approaches a space station and when it is near enough, the astronaut inside ejects from the capsule and uses a fire extinguisher as a jet pack to get to the station; bouncing around the outside the station, she finds handholds, opens an airlock, is blown back, but climbs through it while groaning and grunting.
 An astronaut goes outside a shuttle and manually unbolts a parachute line and the bolt and space drill float toward the audience while a field of metal debris rushes past her, tearing up the space station in a silent explosion, along with part of the shuttle; the astronaut shouts, "Mommy!" and a little later says, "I have to pee" and back inside the shuttle she finds she is out of fuel and shouts twice, "You've got to be kidding me!"
 A woman says that her young daughter hit her head while playing tag and died; and that her (the girls mother) life is now nothing but work and driving around aimlessly. An astronaut says that she has never flown a shuttle and crashed it several times in simulations. A female astronaut on her first EVA says that she feels nauseated; she gasps and startles several times at movements of tether lines and repair tools as her commander tells her that he coughed up everything but a kidney on his first space walk and that her eyes are bloodshot.

LANGUAGE 5 - At least 1 F-word, 1 not fully enunciated F-word, 4 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 10 mild obscenities, exclamations (shut-up), stereotypical references to men, women, astronauts, doctors, Russians, the Chinese, 4 religious exclamations (Jesus Christ, Lord, Oh my God, Oh God).

SUBSTANCE USE - A male astronaut says he knows where the Russians keep their vodka on the ISS space station, and an astronaut in a shuttle asks another astronaut if she found any vodka as he pulls a pint vodka bottle from a spacesuit pocket and drinks from it through an attached straw.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Dangerous occupations, death, space exploration and safety, communications, loss, regret, acceptance, renewal.

MESSAGE - Surviving a dangerous challenge can give life new meaning.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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