Anyone complaining that Hollywood movies are full of too many quick edits will definitely feel the pull of Alfonso Cuarón's ("Children of Men") newest film, "Gravity." The movie, which stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as stranded astronauts, will unspool at a relatively leisurely pace — just 156 shots over two hours, according to Film Stage.
But that doesn't cut down on its thrill value, as evidenced in two new trailers: Clearly, this is a film that will leave audiences (and its characters) breathless.
In the first trailer, part of the film's 17-minute opening sequence, Bullock and Clooney are two astronauts working outside a space shuttle when debris and "meteorological conditions" destroy the spacecraft around them. Bullock is left spinning violently while still strapped to a detached arm of the space station while Clooney dashes around (at least, the kind of dashing one does in while in a space suit) trying to help. Bullock unhooks herself from the arm and goes hurtling into deep, empty, dark space. Focusing on her panicked breathing, that's where the second trailer picks up.
The movie promises to be both claustrophobic and expansive, as Cuarón follows on Clooney's and Bullock's characters stranded in space with no link back to Earth, with a limited supply of oxygen. It also promises to be a roller-coaster ride of a new sort — if one paced at a reasonable level.
"Gravity" opens in theaters on Oct. 4.