Completely devoid of oxygen, containing debris traveling faster than the speed of sound, and with average temperatures ranging from -168 to 280 Fahrenheit, outer space is the most inhospitable environment mankind has yet explored.

Alfonso Cuar??n’s newest film, “Gravity,” depicts the harrowing story of Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Commander Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) who, after a disaster 100 kilometers above the surface of the Earth, are left alone to find their way back home. 

After wreckage from a satellite rips their shuttle apart and hurls them into empty space, they must work together to escape the harsh, anoxic environment.

I may not be the biggest Sandra Bullock fan in the world, but she does an excellent job showing how any of us would react if we felt abandoned and alone in the vast, bleak expanses of outer space. 

George Clooney, on the other hand, is a little too flippant about their predicament for me, although that may be the expected attitude for a veteran astronaut hell-bent on breaking the record for longest spacewalk.

The most striking aspects of the film are the visuals and the layered metaphors. 

Although Steven Price strikes gold with the soundtrack, perfectly matching anxiety-inducing tones with equally stressful scenes, the true mastery of CGI, cinematography and camera work make “Gravity” a euphoric, if borderline vertigo-inducing adventure. 

Constantly shifting and gyrating camera angles give the audience the sense of floating in space next to the other astronauts, and the juxtaposition of the claustrophobic space suits and abandoned spacecraft with the infinite black void of space make for a surreal experience.  

This, combined with metaphorical shots evoking evolutionary change and phoenix-like rebirth, makes it a pleasing film on an aesthetic as well as a sensory level. 

These components make sure that although many films fall short of justifying release in 3D, “Gravity” is well worth the few extra dollars.

“Gravity” is now playing at Roxy Cinema and Palace 9.