Genre Character of the Week: Doctor Ryan Stone

For our anniversary last month, my wife and I spent the day running various errands and then got to take in a matinee of the film Gravity.

For those unfamiliar with the premise, the story follows Dr. Ryan Stone (played amazingly by Sandra Bullock), on her first mission in space, when a freak occurrence leaves the doctor and another crew member stranded in Earth's orbit, with no obvious way home.

Although the film has some of the most amazing effects I've ever seen, and the story kept us on the edge of our seats the whole way through (my wife described the film as delivering a terrifying mix of claustrophobia and agoraphobia at the same time), what really held the whole film together was the lead character, and our genre character of the week, Doctor Ryan Stone.

Although the film is set in space, in many ways it is a pure survival story, like 127 Hours or Castaway, and as with both of those films, the power of the film definitely comes from the way the story connects you to the character.

Although I'm very sure this film is going to be added to my home collection, I can't stress enough that this movie deserves to be seen in theatres, the movie works best as an immersive experience, and although I'm not generally a fan of 3D, it was pretty darn amazing.