A Few Quick Thoughts On Two Movies

I only saw parts of Gravity and the seventh Fast & the Furious, so I'm lumping them together into this post.

Gravity made outer space seem terrifying, so mission accomplished if that's what they were going for. Was surprised Sandra Bullock's character managed to not throw up during that extended sequence where she's tumbling end over end. I guess that wouldn't have fit with the tone of the film, but it really seems like something that would happen. I was getting nauseous just watching it.

I watched the movie up to the point Bullock's character made it to the Russian shuttles and Clooney went drifting off into space. So my lasting image of the film was that shot of her having discarded her spacesuit, and then floating curled into the fetal position in front of the hatch with sunlight streaming through the window. The tube/hose thing that just so happened to float in the proper position to look like an umbilical cord was too much. Fine, yes, she survived this incredibly traumatic experience and has been reborn, and now will try to rescue Clooney. Too on the nose, snapped me out of the story when my eyes reflexively rolled out of my head and down the hallway. What I saw up to then was good, though. Not something I'd actively seek out, but if there was nothing I was more interested in, sure, I'd watch it again.

As for Fast & Furious 7, I really just wanted to watch Jason Statham fight Vin Diesel and/or Dwayne Johnson, so I mostly kept checking back in for that. It took a grenade blowing him out a 3 (5?)-story window and landing on the roof of a car to incapacitate Hobbes, but looking at Dwyane Johnson, I can buy that.

Some disorganized bad guys, though. During the whole final action sequence, it seemed like Statham's character is the only one who cares about killing Dom (Diesel). The guys in the chopper just want to secure their hold on that "God's Eye" program by killing the hacker lady who made it or whatever. Yet, while they're under attack from a minigun-wielding Hobbes, they decided to divert half their firepower to trying to blow up Dom and his car in a parking garage. Even though, as far as they know, he can't do anything to attack them (he has a satchel of grenades, but those were useless until the damage they cased to the garage created a ramp he could jump towards their chopper). Focus, bad guys! One problem at a time.

I know, logic is not really a thing that exists in that franchise, it just seemed particularly stupid. I enjoyed the sequence at the party in Abu Dhabi. Jumping the car between buildings, Statham appearing and just attacking everyone in sight, the Rousey/Michelle Rodriguez fight, Tyrese trying to keep the partygoers and security distracted. Fun scene.