The first teaser trailer for Danny Boyle’s upcoming survival drama 127 hours hit the web today (via In Contention), and it definitely looks very good, but I feel a bit underwhelmed. The film is inspired by the true story of Aaron Ralston, the American mountain climber who had to amputate his arm with a dull knife to escape being pinned by a giant boulder in 2003. You probably saw the news coverage and Ralston’s requisite talk show tour following his rescue. The script for the film was written by Simon Beafoy, whose last collaboration with Boyle on Slumdog Millionaire earned each of them an Oscar statue, for writing and directing respectively. James Franco stars in the film as Ralston, giving him the acting challenge/opportunity of a lifetime, as nearly an hour of the film contains zero dialogue. It’s just Franco and the camera.

Boyle is a fantastic filmmaker, responsible for bringing us classic films like Trainspotting, 28 Days later and The Beach, which this trailer reminds me A LOT of.  It’s very fast-cutting, bright and crisp, with gorgeous cinematography. Classic Boyle. But they don’t get to the actual point of the film (Ralston getting trapped), until the very last second of the trailer, which I didn’t care for. See what I’m talking about below.

A significant majority of the trailer focuses on Ralston”s Beach-esque antics with the two other hot chick climbers he meets (Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara). Then after the brief dramatic build up in the last 10 seconds, they’re like, “oh yeah, by the way, he gets crushed by a giant boulder.” Obviously with Boyle, Beafoy, Franco and the subject matter, this will be an Oscar contender, but the trailer just didn’t do it for me. Not to mention the almost blatant advertising of Boyle’s filmogrophy at the beginning of the trailer. Yes, directors like James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and Danny Boyle will boast their previous credits during the trailer for a new film. But to play almost 30 seconds of footage from Slumdog to hammer into our heads, “the guy who directed this, directed that,” is a little much.

Anyway, I’m still very excited for this film, especially to see the kind of dramatic performance Franco pulled out. 127 Hours opens in theaters on November 5th.

What Do You Think? Discuss.