127 Hours (2010)

The Oscar nominations were released yesterday and 127 Hours was the only Best Picture nominee I had yet to see. I'd had a screener at my house for quite some time but never got around to watching it. A couple friends of mine had seen it and really liked it but I had no idea how great the movie was until yesterday.

127 Hours is the biographical story of Aron Ralston (James Franco) who's arm was trapped underneath a boulder while mountain climbing. He had to go through some very extreme measures in order to free himself and be rescued. I'll leave the plot summary at that for anyone who doesn't know the specifics.

First off, I loved the movie but it is not an easy film to sit through. There are plenty of scenes (and one in particular) that will cause a viewer to be very uncomfortable. There are even reports of people fainting when the film was making it's rounds on the festival circuit. There just isn't any way to watch 127 Hours and not get a strong reaction from it.

The movie rests almost entirely on two people. Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire ) and star James Franco. It's easy to see why Franco got a best actor nomination. He runs through such a wide range of emotions and reactions all while being stuck in one place for over 3/4 of the film. He's shown a lot of acting skills in his previous career but really nothing that would prepare a viewer for what he does in 127 Hours.

Boyle's contributions are a little less obvious (no Best Director nomination for him) but are no less important. The sense of tension that runs throughout the movie is amazing for a film that doesn't leave one area. Using multiple camera's and in his choice of shots, you can really feel the sense of claustrophobia that Ralston went through as well as the vastness of the mountain's right outside the canyon he's trapped in. It sounds cliche but Boyle really does more with less in 127 Hours. With his past films, Boyle has proven to be one of the best directors making movie's today and this might be his best work yet.

127 Hours is both very challenging and very rewarding. It really shows the great sense of human resolve that we all have underneath if put in an extraordinary position of despair. I hadn't yet seen it when I made my favorite movies of the year list and it's only been a day but 127 Hours would surely have made the back half of the top ten. It's a fantastic showcase for Boyle and Franco and is required viewing when it's released on video March 1st.


Rating: 4.5/5