Rainy afternoon fare

Medical engineer Dr Ryan Stone (Bullock) and mission commander Matt Kowalsky (Clooney) are working in space outside their shuttle when Houston orders them to return to the capsule immediately because a Russian space station has been hit by a missile and debris is coming their way.

The recalcitrant Stone tries desperately to continue to reboot a malfunctioning communications system when the first fragments start to arrive at a gazillion miles an hour, breaking her tether to the shuttle and sending her spinning off into space.

Kowalsky, who is wearing a propulsion unit, manages to retrieve her and, tethered only to each other, the pair sets off for the international shuttle with Stone quickly running out of oxygen.

That’s when things start really to deteriorate as the viewer wonders whether anything else can go wrong. It can and does.

After opening at the 70th Venice International Film Festival in August 2013 and the North American Telluride Film Festival three days later, Gravity won seven Academy Awards, including Best Director for Cuarón, and took six BAFTAs.

In places the predominantly two-hander will have you clutching the edge of your seat. In others the film is somewhat ho-hum and a pedestrian script seemed to have sent the undeniable talents of Bullock and Clooney out for lunch.

For a rainy afternoon it is something to watch.

But if you have more pressing things to do ….