127 Hours

127 Hours (2010) is a Biographical Adventure Thriller, which follows Aron Ralston (James Franco) through his journey as a mountain climber in his spare time. He's a Hero-type character who doesn't especially feel that he needs help from anyone else, and as such, he never really asks, or shares his plans unnecessarily. So it's not out of character when he sets out for a climb for the day without telling anyone where- or that- he's going, and spends a good part of his day with two young women in the mountains. They have a good time together, free falling from between rocks into an underground lake, and Aron promises to come to the girls' party the next night. They're unsure if he'll come, but they hope he will. He sets out alone, climbing around for the rest of the afternoon. He finds himself screwed, however, when having placed his hand on a loose boulder to climb into a long, skinny hole with, it slips, sending him falling, and falls on top of him, pinning his right arm between the wall of the underground cave and the boulder. The rock is crushing his arm, and cutting off the circulation to his fingers. He has only enough food and water to survive a few days, at best. He has no cell-phone, just a watch, camera, digital-recording camera, a headlight, and a multi-gadget device with a dull knife inside. And it'll be 127 hours to go before he reaches any semblance of hope.

The film is based on the autobiography, Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston. The screenplay was co-written, produced, and directed by Danny Boyle. The film has been viewed by Ralston himself since its release, and apart from a scene in the beginning in which Ralston (the character) shows the two girls the underground lake, he said that that movie was as close as it gets to being a Documentary without actually being one, therefore the realness of the film is in high consideration at the moment. Danny Boyle, who also directed the award-winning Slumdog Millionaire, had been excited to do a film version of Ralston's story for years. Simon Beaufry wrote the screenplay for Boyle's treatment, and originally he had Cillian Murphy picked as his top-choice to play Ralston, which didn't happen for whatever reason. Boyle also wanted the entire first half of the movie to be shot without dialogue- which also didn't happen- and I think that's a good thing, because the dialogue helps you get into the character before he's trapped so you can identify with him and be more upset that he's stuck.

My personal opinion of the film was that it was great. Franco's performance is definitely the most notable thing about the film, as it is largely a character piece with only one location (primarily) and you're in his thoughts, memories, and hallucinations a good deal of the time. The film itself is visually well done- the ciematogaphy is interesting. I enjoyed the use of a video-camera for the protagonist, because it gave him an opportunity to talk to us and show us how he's holding up. The climax of the movie was hard to watch, but executed very well. Unfortunately, though I did like this movie, I can't come up with a lot to say about it, simply because there was one main character with one main location, book-ended by the beginning and end. I liked it, but there's not a lot to say other than what's been said.

I do reccomend seeing this movie, it's definitely worth the watch, especially since it's so closely based on the true story of Aron Raston, and to be able to really get a look into what he went through is pretty remarkable. This is not my choice for Best Picture of the Year at the Academy Awards, though I wouldn't be too disappointed if it won, because I can definitely see how it would be a critic's choice, and I hope that everyone gives it a fair chance despite the difficulties of one man and one set.