Gravity

The consensus amongst our little group was, I think, that while Gravity was worth a watch, it had been overhyped and was both sillier and more predictable than it was made out to be.

The story is pretty obvious from the trailer – when a space shuttle is hit by high-speed shrapnel (the Russians’ fault, of course), a scientific operation goes disastrously wrong and two astronauts are left out in the void of space with only one thruster pack between them, trying desperately to get to the ISS. 

It may have the novelty of a realistic treatment of space, but it’s the same basic scenario as any escape-from-a-hostile-environment film, be it a crew trapped in a submarine or a sci-fi flick about space shields slowly fading. It is also fanciful, relying on incredibly coincidental timing to put its characters in danger at just the right moments, one rather ham-fisted hallucination scene, a rather handy landing point just off a shore rather than in the middle of a vast ocean, and a fire-extinguisher-as-thruster scene that while reasonable overall, was done rather too soon after Wall-E.

The performances are strong, to be sure, and apart from some well-controlled hair the effects very convincing – done largely with CG and some huge rigs, apparently – but the effect is of course very familiar these days and only when you look into the lengths filmmakers go to get weightless shots (the most impressive being the ordeal for Apollo 13) do you realise how far it can be necessary to go for that effect. But the whole point of this film is to portray the environment realistically, with the dangers that can hit when technology fails, and thus the technical marvel only gets in the way.

In the end, beyond its first ten minutes, I don’t think Gravity manages to deliver on its promises. It’s a film that is ultimately not very thrilling, tense or believable, leaving only something that is quite formulaic and cliché. If the beauty of the view of Earth from orbit is enough of a draw, perhaps none of the other shortcomings matter. It’s not a film I would care to see again, though. 

Thor: The Dark World

It remains a bit of a golden era for comic book films - they keep on putting them out, with a whole lot of money behind them, and if your first try didn't quite fire on all cylinders, you get another chance, especially if you're an Avenger and your bad guy is a runaway favourite with audiences.

And so comes Thor 2, no longer needing to get bogged down with exposition or encouraging its audience to like its rather thin characters. And as such it was a silly but rather enjoyable film.

After quite a bizarre moment when after the trailers our 'Sky Superscreen' was taken over by Talking Tom from the Android app for somebody to propose to their future wife in the cinema (cute, but would you really choose Thor 2?), we donned our 3D glasses for the newest box office draw. With the various realms of Norse myth now largely peaceful and Loki locked up in prison, things seem good for Thor. But Dark Elves from before the time of Midgard - led by Christopher Ecclestone in heavy prosthetics - are seeking the aether, which will allow them to return the universe to darkness. As the realms align, little portals open, and since her job is to investigate such things, Natalie Portman's character steps through and happens to find the aether.

This is a story that relies on coincidence. It's Thor's girlfriend who finds the McGuffin, their allies have random bits of technology that just happen to be able to affect the portals between worlds in just the right way, and the ones falling in and out of these random wormholes are almost entirely our central gang, rather than innocent people ending up falling to their deaths and suchlike.

The film doesn't stand up to scrutiny and is deeply unsophisticated, but that's sort of the point. It's fun. The characters are broad but believable and Tom Hiddleston's Loki is one of the most compelling villains of any film franchise of the past few decades. Thor himself is flawed enough to be likeable and his Warriors Three excellent examples of economically-sketched characters. The big destructive setpieces are also highly enjoyable - with an extra thrill of pleasure for us watching the film in Greenwich, which is where the climactic action takes place. And yes, yes that woman on the Tube gave Thor bad directions.  I'm sure she was just flustered.

The traditional teaser in the first of two extra scenes during the credits revealed more hints about the Infinity Stones being central to the next Avengers film. Quite keen for that - though I hope things get incorporated a little better next time, for while the unexpected cameo here was fun, Thor's excuses for not going to visit the love of his life during or after The Avengers were basically awkward hand-waving. Iron Man 3 did it at least somewhat better with the heavy toll the finale took on Stark.

I'm very happy to continue to watch these silly comic films, I must say. Next time, bring on Beta Ray Bill!