THERE’S many a young lady – and a few chaps too – who wouldn’t mind being stranded in space with George Clooney.

But be careful what you wish for. As Sandra Bullock’s space virgin discovers in Alonso Cuaron’s breathtaking new film Gravity even Gorgeous George faces coming down to Earth with a bump in an emergency.

It’s all going so well too. Veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (Clooney) is on his final space mission, keeping an eye on expert engineer Dr Ryan Stone (Bullock) who’s on her first mission in deep space aboard the Space Shuttle Explorer.

Actually, she’s outside floating about in space as she attends to equipment on the outside of the spacecraft. It’s all very jolly and jokey as Kowalski swaps quips with mission control (voiced by Ed Harris) and keeps an eye on Stone.

In space, as Alien taught us all those years ago, no one can hear your scream. That’s what Stone feels like doing when the mission is suddenly aborted by mission control because an old satellite has created a debris cloud that’s heading straight towards them.

It rips through Explorer, killing the third member of the crew and sending Stone hurtling off into space. Kowalski must rescue her before her oxygen supply runs out.

So the film, written by Cuaeon and his son Jonas, becomes a battle for survival as the pair of them drift through space, needing every bit of ingenuity and courage they can muster if they’re to live.

At a tight, tense 91 minutes this is a movie that, unlike too many of today’s over-inflated blockbusters, keeps it brief and to the point.

Wise-cracking Clooney is perfect casting, the sort of man you’d want around in an emergency, and Bullock, who bears the main dramatic weight of the movie as her troubled past is revealed, shows that she can carry off drama as well as she can comedy.

But perhaps the real stars are Cuaron and the production team that use 3D for maximum effect to give real depth to the images as spacecraft and astronauts look like mere specks in the universe. Seen on the giant IMAX screen, it must be even more fantastic.