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“Oh, my God—that was fantastic,” a woman behind me gushed as we filed out of Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. I wish I could just quote her and leave it at that. The problem with raving up this truly nifty movie is that nearly everything that happens in it counts as a spoiler, which ought to tell you how ingeniously constructed it is.

George Clooney and Sandra Bullock play two astronauts—he’s a veteran pilot, she’s an engineering specialist on her first mission—who get caught outside their space shuttle when hurtling debris kills the rest of the crew and damages their ride home beyond repair. The struggle to stay alive and make it back to earth is the whole movie: no flashbacks, no cutaways to Mission Control, nada. Everything we learn about these two—and we learn plenty—comes out of their interactions and behavior as they cope.

Visually, the movie is as much of a milestone as _2001: A Space Odyssey _was 45 years ago. Yet that’s not just due to CGI’s improvements—are they, really?—on old-school special effects. Reportedly lasting thirteen minutes without a cut, the opening shot is an astounding technical feat: a fabulously choreographed glide around the shuttle as Clooney’s Matt Kowalsky and Bullock’s Dr. Ryan Stone, bantering with each other and Houston the whole time, float from closeup to ant size and back. But we’re less conscious of Cuaron’s showmanship than we are of the whole wondrous ballet’s eerily matter-of-fact intimacy, because we’re already learning what these people are like as human beings.

Then disaster strikes, and our two protagonists are on their own. The loneliness of their plight is made chillingly vivid, even though both the International Space Station and a Chinese spacecraft are orbiting nearby and each is a potential lifesaver. Getting to either is the quandary, and every last complication, setback, bout of despair and moment of quixotic chivalry not only ratchets up the tension but deepens our identification with the fight to survive.

Even 2001’s most ardent fans don’t waste much time talking about the acting. Here, on the other hand, the casting and performances are key. Roguish but resourceful Matt Kowalsky is such an ideal Clooney part that you have a hard time picturing any other actor in the role, but he’s never done that chipper Clooney thing in such extreme, dire circumstances. That adds a lot of punchy resonance to the gallantry hidden behind his jokey charm.