There comes a time when one movie changes the whole dimension between the “then” and the “now.” The Jazz Singer made the advent of sound like The Wizard of Oz popularized the use of color. And 2001: A Space Odyssey gave us a glimpse of space, while Avatar made 3D its own. And now: the movie that will set apart the notion between just watching and being close enough to feel it, Gravity has made its mark.

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, this flick took an approximate four and a half years to make. It stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as Dr. Ryan Stone and Matt Kowalsky, respectively, and they are astronauts trying to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Ed Harris gave his voice to Houston Mission Control, where he occasionally jokes and banters around with the insatiable George Clooney.

All of a sudden, a wide range of debris heads their way, and through the chaos and destruction of the satellite, Dr. Stone finds herself repelled from her colleague and sent twirling in space with no end in sight. With its simplistic plot and an average running time of only 91 minutes, Alfonso Cuarón took advantage of this to create a movie where the audience can be involved.

Known for his long continuous shots, the first 17 minutes, itself, was one, long take that displays Earth’s beauty from thousands of miles away in space as it segues to the astronauts and then the chaos. Personally, I am not an advocate of using 3D glasses, but for this particular movie, I had to give in and watch it in IMAX 3D. This was the most beautifully made film that I’ve seen in a long time, and when you watch it in IMAX 3D, you will feel as though Earth is only a few feet away from you.

Cuarón quoted in The New York Times, “We wanted to slowly immerse audiences into first the environment and then to immerse them into the action, and the ultimate goal of this whole experiment was for the audiences to feel as if they are a third character who is floating with our other two characters in space.”

I rarely give too much praise for a movie these days because of all the constant superhero movies and remakes that have been bombarding the theatres. It seems like originality has been scarce and only a handful of people are really able to tap it.

There are moments in this movie where you’ll find yourself holding your breath. If you do, don’t worry, it only means that you’re really in it. I know it’s a bad thing to place such high expectations on a movie, but after leaving that theatre, I find myself in awe that I have just witnessed a movie that made me feel like an astronaut for the entire time. That, I think, deserves an even higher degree of expectation.