The Fictional Hangout: 12 Days of Christmas - Best SFF Characters of 2013

Sunday 5 January 2014

12 Days of Christmas - Best SFF Characters of 2013 - Day #11: Dr. Ryan Stone

As we enter our penultimate day in the 12 Days of Christmas, I address my eleventh pick of my favourite characters of 2013, and the character in question is Dr. Ryan Stone, played by Sandra Bullock in 2013's Gravity.

Dr. Ryan Stone

Dr. Ryan Stone is one of my favourite female characters of 2013. I've never been a big fan of Sandra Bullock and this is one of the few movies that I've actually seen her featuring as a character but for me Bullock has nailed the performance of Ryan Stone, delivering easily the greatest female lead character in a movie in 2013 (Yes, I know that Katniss Everdeen was in a 2013 movie as well) and putting across a strong performance to help make Gravity my favourite movies of 2013. She had great chemistry with George Clooney and on a whole, her character, combined with the tension of the film, worked fantastically well in my opinion and this is why for me Ryan Stone's incredibly good. She's one of the few lead female characters to not have a love interest in a film and that's in part due to the cast of only two characters who are on screen for the bulk of the movie (three actors appear in person on screen).

It's a rare occasion when you see a Hollywood movie with a female lead character without a male supporting her throughout the film and Gravity is one of the few occasions where the male character actually doesn't play as important role as one would expect. The main weight of the movie is upon Sandra Bullock's shoulders and she delivers perfectly, knocking it out of the park in her performance as Dr. Ryan Stone and delivers a stunning performance from the get go. This is why she gets my award for favourite lead character in the movies of 2013 - for me, nobody else really came close. The acting was compelling and I don't think there was a single person in the cinema where I went to see the film who wasn't rooting for her to survive the film and she pulls it off exceptionally well.

The film itself is exceptional, and for me, Gravity might well just be one of the best films that I've ever seen. And Sandra Bullock does a great way into making this be as good as it was in her performance of Dr. Ryan Stone. Going in I didn't expect the actress to be anywhere near as good as she turned out to be, but Bullock pulls it off amazingly well. If you haven't seen Gravity I strongly urge you to go and watch it when you can - because there's no reason why Stone can't be on this of favourite characters of 2013. If you only ever see one movie with Sandra Bullock in your life, make it this one. If you've been turned off by her performances in the past, don't let it prevent you from going to see this one. Her performance is great. Along with Tatiana Maslany on the small screen, Sandra Bullock has certainly won my award for best actress on the big screen of the year.