Critical response
What rating does Rotten Tomatoes give "Gravity"?
Gravity (film)
"Gravity" had its world premiere at the 70th Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2013, where it received universal acclaim from critics and audiences who praised the acting, direction, screenplay, cinematography, visual effects, production design, the use of 3D, and Steven Price's musical score. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 97% based on reviews from 295 critics, with a "Certified Fresh" rating and an average score of 9.1/10. The site's consensus states: "Alfonso Cuarón's "Gravity" is an eerie, tense sci-fi thriller that's masterfully directed and visually stunning". On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 based on reviews from critics, the film has a score of 96 based on 49 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave "Gravity" an average grade of A- on an A+ to F scale. Matt Zoller Seitz, writing on RogerEbert.com, gave four stars out of four, calling it "a huge and technically dazzling film and that the film's panoramas of astronauts tumbling against starfields and floating through space station interiors are at once informative and lovely". Justin Chang writing for "Variety" said that the film "restores a sense of wonder, terror and possibility to the big screen that should inspire awe among critics and audiences worldwide". Richard Corliss of "Time" said, "Cuarón shows things that cannot be but, miraculously, are, in the fearful, beautiful reality of the space world above our world. If the film past is dead, "Gravity" shows us the glory of cinema's future. It thrills on so many levels. And because Cuarón is a movie visionary of the highest order, you truly can't beat the view." He praised Cuarón for " daringly and dexterously with point-of-view: at one moment you're inside Ryan's helmet as she surveys the bleak silence, then in a subtle shift you're outside to gauge her reaction. The 3-D effects, added in post-production, provide their own extraterrestrial startle: a hailstorm of debris hurtles at you, as do a space traveler's thoughts at the realization of being truly alone in the universe. "Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" gave the film a maximum of four stars, stating that the film was "more than a movie. It's some kind of miracle." A. O. Scott writing for "The New York Times" highlighted the use of 3-D which he said, "surpasses even what James Cameron accomplished in the flight sequences of "Avatar"". Scott also said that the film "in a little more than 90 minutes rewrites the rules of cinema as we have known them". Some critics have compared "Gravity" with other notable films set in space. Lindsey Webber of Vulture.com said the choice of Ed Harris for the voice of Mission Control is a reference to "Apollo 13". "Gravity" references other films, including "Alien", and "". James Cameron praised the film and stated, "I think it's the best space photography ever done, I think it's the best space film ever done, and it's the movie I've been hungry to see for an awful long time". Quentin Tarantino said it was one of his top ten movies of 2013. "Empire", "Time" and "Total Film" ranked the film as the best of 2013.