127 Hours
3.5/4 Stars
127 Hours is a movie about a guy who finds himself with his arm pinned by a boulder to a canyon wall for five days. Against all odds, he survives. Great. Fantastic story for the news...but is this really a good story for a movie? At the end of the day, is this movie at all watchable and entertaining?
Absolutely. The story of Aaron Ralston, directed in an exciting, almost frenetic way by Slumdog Millionaire's Danny Boyle, is involving, incredibly entertaining—and wholly deserving of its best picture nomination.
The movie opens with Aaron (James Franco, in an Oscar-nominated performance) preparing for a several day excursion to Bluejohn Canyon in Utah. You know the type: up several hours before dawn, Nalgene and CamelBak water storage ready to go, and is so supremely confident in his skills that he does not tell a soul where he’s going…not even his mother.
We wouldn’t have a movie if this arrogance didn’t come back to bite him in the ass, so after a day of backpacking, climbing and flirting with a couple of lost female hikers (Amber Tamblin and Kate Mara), a mishap sends a boulder tumbling down a canyon shaft and pins Aaron’s arm to the shaft wall. He can’t move the rock, he can’t chisel it away with his cheap multi-tool, and he’s running out of water and food, fast.
In between thinking of ways to prolong his survival, Aaron makes a video diary logging his thoughts and farewells to family. One of the best scenes in the movie involves Aaron (still stuck in the shaft) interviewing himself for a mock morning show. The scene is riddled with black humor and showcases some of actor’s James Franco’s best moments.
Speaking of Franco, he is in nearly every frame of this movie, most of them alone. 127 Hours resonated with me largely because I never tired of watching him. He sold me on Aaron’s predicament, made me feel as if I had a stake in the situation, like I was trapped down there with him.
Franco gets a serious assist from director Danny Boyle and his entire creative team (the writer, producer, and composer of this movie held the same roles in Slumdog Millionaire) who take us inside Aaron’s deteriorating psyche as dehydration, hunger and raw fear take their toll. Dreams, hallucinations, flash backs and even a premonition play important roles in dissecting Ralston’s mental state, as well as keeping the proceedings lively.
After a bloody decision (real bloody, if you have a weak stomach, stay away from this one) and a lot of luck, Aaron survives to write the memoir this film is based on. It is to the filmmakers’ credit that Aaron is not made into a hero. Nor are we subjected to any moralizing on the “meaning” of the accident or the survival. About the only “lesson” the film tries to impart is about wilderness safety. That is the mark of a confident movie, a good movie.
