Unlike French movies, if you want Americans to enjoy a movie that ruminates about the nature of life & death, meaning versus random, then you have to have bells & whistles. It can’t be too melancholic & ultimately must be uplifting! Despite intellectually understanding that I was being emotionally manipulated and visually tantalized, I welcome the exploitation because it still works and is incredibly beautiful & riveting despite a great deal of unbelievable moments. Gravity redeems the 3D gimmick & is worth any added theatrical majesty that you can afford. Perhaps the advertisers (some print ads say, “Don’t let go”) should have seen the movie to understand the point of the film: let go of pain & go for the crazy ride of life. Despite the full on cheese and heavy handedness of the repeated birth/baptism/evolution imagery & religious imagery reminiscent of the final scenes of Lost, again if it is beautiful, hits the right notes & moves the story forward at a decent pace, then I don’t mind the lack of subtlety in the references. It was so enjoyable that I’m wondering if Sandra Bullock is vying for the succession of the Sigourney Weaver throne as a lead woman who can hold a movie on her own, particularly one with a great deal of action. I would still watch Sigourney Weaver in anything and though I like Bullock, I still tentatively approach her work & am surprised despite being satisfied with the majority of her films for almost 20 years.