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Cameron Williams’ Sharp “Gravity” Review Maintains a Solemn Urgency

In response to Cameron Williams’s 660‑word review of Gravity on The Popcorn Junkie 

http://thepopcornjunkie.com/2013/10/04/review-gravity/

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Without any of the overblown amour-propre that’s characterized this Gravity season, Cameron Williams’s “Review—Gravity” maintains its credibility with a clinical analysis that also manages to titillate.  

While it’s bookended with emotional appeals, Review—Gravity is one of those pieces that maintains a healthy distance from its audience. It settles for a type of narration that seems, for want of a better term, documentarian. In less skilled hands, it would have been a losing narrative choice.  

Of course, it’s Cameron Williams at the helm, and he works it in spades.

There’s a quiet reverence about Review—Gravity, an appreciation of form and craft, a neat respite from the egotism that so often tends to cloud a work. Thus in Williams’s piece, the reader is the center of attention and the main character.

Vivid descriptions are interrupted with moments of exegesis and sharp analysis, a lightly undulating dynamic that carries throughout the work. At no point does Review—Gravity not feel vital. It maintains its solemn urgency throughout.

The art form of the review is, in a way, rather unforgiving: minor mistakes can derail even a very strong effort. A piece that avoids those mistakes is rare. A piece that maintains its composure is even rarer. Williams’ review is as tight as a drum, a quiet masterpiece that will be regarded among this season’s best.    

Quality of Writing Quality of Argument Spoiler Avoidance Presentation