127 Hours Reviews

How exciting can you make a movie where someone's stuck between a rock and a rock for 90 minutes (or 127 hours, as it happened in 2002) and everyone heard about how the case ended? If you're Danny Boyle, you have a lot of ideas. Starting out like a Gatorade or hiking commercial, the film soon after gets very reduced and has to rely entirely on James Franco in his strongest performance to date. While Boyle still adds a few fun camera and stoy-telling gimmicks to spice up the endless time Aron is stuck, the film works thanks to Franco's outstanding acting. The last 10 minutes, with Sigur Ros' "Festival" playing, are absolutely brilliant and leave you deeply touched. A great example of what human beings are capable of and why stories about the will to live always beat "stones fall, everyone dies" endings. Impressing both from the background story and the acting point of view.

Mixed review: in dramatizing Aron Ralston's (James Franco's) unconventional escape method - I'll spoil it, because it's based on a true story and I think everyone already knows: he cuts off his own arm - Danny Boyle gives us another of his truly horrific, (i.e., not fantasic but rather based in reality), iconic scenes to go with his baby on the ceiling (Trainspotting) and his boy-falling-in-latrine (Slumdog Millionaire). The music, sound, effects and editing that make the climax so terrifying and so gruesome to watch are carried off rather well, and in the weeks since seeing it, I've come to wonder if I underwent a minor trauma watching it, as whenever something gets very stressful, for some reason this scene comes back to me in all its intensity.

And yet, the film fell victim to the same fate as Into the Wild: I didn't care much about the protagonist. The last ten minutes of the movie, if that, tell us how he learned and grew from the experience, but to be frank, I'd rather they weren't there. Closing the film where the action ended, as opposed to after the happy Where-Are-They-Now and Moral Of The Story bits, would make it an outstanding piece; were the growth Boyle strives to show in the end better hinted at as the film went on, were the depth's of Ralston's guilt and desire to survive probed a little farther, I think we'd cheer for him. As it was, it was kind of like Hot Tub Time Machine, in that I was mostly waiting for the part where he loses his arm.

Before this film I didn't take James Franco seriously as a serious actor. But the fact that he lead this 93 minutes himself truly proves that he's got it.

I value a movie's screenplay more than anything else, and that was this movie's achilles heel. However, this film's great acting, directing, cinematography and score make it really enjoyable. Boyle, Rahman and Franco do great work to bring this unbelievable true story to the big screen.

An amazing movie with quality acting from James Franco. However, I had many quirks about the film's approach to the film's style in showing the psyche of James Franco's character, Aron Ralston. A great movie though.

Disappointment is a good way to describe my feelings on this film. I've probably watched too many better Boyle movies and loved Clémence Poésy too much in In Bruges to enjoy one where both their respective performances here are largely curtailed by cheesy, melodramatic flashback scenes. The film is otherwise-solid--James Franco is James Franco, the film looks nice, the shots are somewhat creative, and the soundtrack isn't terrible--but maybe that's the problem. It's (no pun intended) an uphill battle to make a film about a guy trying to climb out of a canyon interesting, especially when American film is already so saturated with amazing-tale-of-survival stories, true and otherwise, just over 90 minutes or otherwise.

The best film of 2010, anchored entirely by an outstanding turn from James Franco, who is without question one of this generation's most promising young actors. The stylistic and trippy inserts director Danny Boyle includes enhance this film and make it much more involving (the amputation scene, in particular). A.R. Rahman's exceptional soundtrack also hits with force when it needs to. This is excellent film-making, and the point it makes about the importance of human interaction and the fact that it was family that drove Ralston's exit from that claustrophobic cave is what makes it all the more inspirational. James Franco should get nominated for this performance, and I will admit the ending got me a little teary-eyed. When comparing the film to say, "Touching the Void", both do a phenomenal job drawing their audience into the story and characters, and offering a compelling conclusion - even if you already know what's going to happen.

A true life story of the thrill-seeking mountain climber who became trapped in a remote ravine without hope of rescue and resorted to amputating his own arm with a pen knife to escape. Danny Boyle once again finds the kind of off beat material he has made his name upon and thanks to some glorious scenery and a fine performance by the ever reliable Franco, he creates a film that is far above the usual "triumph of the human spirit" melodrama. In fact the only real drawback to the whole thing is the fact that the audience knows in advance exactly what is going to happen and therefore there are no surprises whatsoever. That and the fact that although it is embellished by Boyle's usual blend of visual gimmickry and pop music, we are still basically spending an hour and a half watching a guy in a hole. Still, it manages to engage and entertain throughout and is a pretty amazing story of physical endurance and power of will.

An inspirational story put too life through Danny Boyle's beautiful portrayal, I aspire to be like Aron Ralston, some good scenery shots that outline America's dusty beauty, although claustrophobic, very entertaining.

Fresh and freewheeling, mirroring the main (and really only) character, 127 Hours tells the story of an adrenaline junky who lives to hike the barren Canyonlands of eastern Utah.

By now we all know the story of how James Franco's character gets his arm trapped between a cliff wall and a large boulder, but director Danny Boyle keeps your interest by giving you a back story via remembrances and hallucinations, aimed at giving you a true feel for who this guy is, as well as feeling right there with him in his impossible situation.

Obviously he escapes (otherwise there wouldn't have been a story to tell, now would there?), and funny thing, it almost seems anti-climatic (as zen masters tell ya - the journey is more important than the arrival) - and yes, here, the journey (ie, the story) is compelling; filmed with precision and a nice use of lighting and close-ups.

To tell the truth, I was a bit skeptical of the validity of this film (I had heard about the gruesome "solution"), but really, the film is so much more than that, and except for lagging a bit shortly before the solution, is well paced - to the point where you don't even mind the tagged "and he still climbs rocks today" add on.

Impressive film about a tragic incident. After you watch this, go to youtube and look up the real life documentary on Aron Ralston....the actual video is almost identical! They got this movie spot on.

So I watched Buried and was incredibly disappointed. I figured there is only so much content that can be put into a film about a guy stuck in one place. So it was only by chance that I saw yet another movie about a guy stuck in one spot.
As it turns out it can be done eloquently. 127 Hours was vastly superior in every way to Buried.
His character was likable, the situation and his attempts to get free were plausible. It was a balanced film too; it was as suspenseful as it was charming.
The end sequences were powerful with great cinematography and sound. This is a film you can watch with a group of people (not children) or on your own.

Awesome movie and performance by Franco. damn yo.

I laughed at the part where he was cutting his arm off though. It was really inappropriate, but I couldn't help it. Franco had his fucking game face on when he was cutting away haha.

Excellent movie. How much you love your life? What would you do without any help? James Franco surprised me with his acting, he really deserved his Oscar nomination. Fantastic rithm and soundtrack. Thumbs up!

Since the whole movie pretty much IS James Franco's performance, It's wonderful that he delivers top-notch acting. The movie manages to be fun, ubnoxious, and gut-wrenching all at once, even if the style grows a bit tiresome towards the end. Simplicity and gravity are two other virtues that make this movie stand out.

I agree I loved the movie too, flash is a good word to describe it, and Danny Boyle did well to include so much for a storyline which is pretty shallow when you think about it. You'll laugh a lot and once its over you'll pinch yourself.

Danny Boyle has finally achieved the full greatness of his own visual strenght and the emotional rawness that has always been evident his work as a director.
His 28 Days Later was groundbreaking cinema in a terms of horror-genre, and his brilliant Sunshine is by far one of the greatest and puzzling Sci-Fi-films ever made. This time he tells us a highly touching and amazing true-story of a mountain climber Aron Ralston.
This film's strenght lies in it's extremely risky and admirable approach to it's subject matter, which is that it is mainly focused on a one man's battle against impossible situation. There are no pointless sideplots here. Just man against nature and it's cruelty.
In April 2003, Aron Ralston was hiking at Blue John Canyon, near Moab, Utah. Things got horribly out of control when boulder got dislodged and crushed his right arm and pinned it against canyon wall. This film is a close study of what happened afterwards and what happened to Aron in that canyon during those painful 127-hours.
Boyle and his team succeeds perfectly to capture all the horrors and despair of that situation, and so does the fantastic James Franco as a Aron.
Franco's performance is very good. He really seem to live his role more than just act it. basically the whole film lies on his shoulder and he succeeds to carry it easily. We live through his grief, anger and desperate struggle for life.
Credit must also be given to the spectacular cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle and Enrique Chediak. Their breathtaking use of ultra close-ups and the way they capture the canyons are pure visual feast. A.R. Rahman's dynamic musical score is also something to behold and Jon Harris keeps the editing perfectly tight.
Along with Rahman's score there are also outright fantastic choices with soundtrack as always in Boyle's films. One of the films most oddly uplifting and genius moments comes in a scene where Aron struggles with boulder while Bill Wither's lovely day is playing on a soundtrack.
I have always admired filmmakers that are willing to take risks and Danny Boyle is that kind of artist. He is clearly willing to push the boundaries of traditional cinema and go into the directions that others would not. With 127 Hours he has achieved his most mature, balanced and touching film to date.

Visually it's brilliant, very flash with an awesome soundtrack - typical Danny Boyle really. The one thing that bothers me though is that being trapped in a cave for 5 days isn't that exciting. I think it would have been a greater challenge to have shown the real emptiness, loneliness and nothingness that the experience in that situation would really be like. Steve McQueen (III) would probably have made it like that but then again, it probably wouldn't have been as entertaining. Where he really excels is in his depiction of madness, the loosing of ones mind - played brilliantly by Franco but without Boyle's realist surrealism (Can I copyright that?) this film just wouldn't have worked. Respect due for not shying away from showing the graphic sides of the story too and I also loved the Scooby-doo bit, it's great seeing that kind of thing in an mainstream/Oscar nominated film. I've not read the book it's based on but I can guess how it translates, my only wonder is whether it's a good read or not. It's an interesting story, don't get me wrong but I don't know if the cliches of the film are from the book or not. For example, I can see why Aron Ralston in the film is filming himself, whether he did or not in real life doesn't really matter, but did he start talking like a game-show host when he started to go a bit mental because I've seen that a couple of time in film already, I'm just saying! But like I've touched upon, Franco's performance is perfect, he's definitely an actor on the up and even though I've had issues with Danny Boyle's films in the past, I'm looking forward to his next.

At the end, we stagger like Ralston from the dark into the light. We might have both our arms left, but our nerves are just as terrorised.

I already knew the outcome of this story and thought I would be bored quickly... I was mistaken! I enjoyed this movie. James Franco does an excellent job!