127 Hours - Movie No. 6

127 Hours

Director: Danny Boyle

Starring: James Franco , Massive Rock

Year: 2010

Watched: 5/1/11

What the fudge is it?

127 hours is the true story of Aron Ralstons. While canyoneering on his own he gets trapped under a boulder. With his arm trapped Aron spends the next 5 days trying to find a way free. With water and food running out Aron resorts to desperate measures. James Franco Vs. Big Rock! FIGHT!

What I Thought...

Before i begin i just wanted to write that i didn't understand the hype surrounding Slumdog Millionaire. Sure it was a good film but for me it wasn't as good as 28 days later, trainspotting or even the beach. Yeah i enjoyed the beach!

I think everyone will find i hard to walk into this film and not know of the outcome. Its just one of those films.....going into Titanic i had a fair idea that the big boat was gonna go down. So with 127 hours i knew the ending i was more interested in how we were going to get there and if the horrible incident would be as horrible as everyone was making out.

The film opens with a trade mark Danny Boylefest of colours and music, the editing is great, fast paced and exciting to watch. We see Arin get ready for a weekend away canyoneering together with shots of busy streets. It almost has a comic book feel with the split screen effect.

We see Arin start his adventure on bikes before wiping out.....what does he do? Takes a picture of course. This is the type of character we are dealing with....to be honest a douche! The type of guy you meet at a party, after listening to how extreme and awesome his adventures are and how many chicks he pulls. After walking away from the party you think "what a tit!" or something like "Hope he gets stuck under a boulder!". Naa you would say that but you would think eventually his cockyness will catch up with him and......it does.

James Franco is fantastic, i think he is great and has the ability to handle stoner humor or more serious roles. We see Arin go from a cocky and often annoying prat to a vulnerable, weak and regret filled human being. Once stuck under the big bad rock Arin uses his video camera to document himself. It is through the camera that we see Franco properly show off. The cock annoying cheese is worn away and we just see a regular guy that is stuck with a big ass rock on his arm!

As starvation and dehydration sets in we see Arin have visions and dreams, the mixture of flashbacks and hallucinations show the regrets and hopes of the douche trapped under the rock. Some of these are done brilliant and resemble scenes from trainspotting and the beach.

Its a hard subject, how do you make a man stuck in one place interesting. Buried managed to do it by having external phone call but for Arin there are not many external forces to move the story along everything the story involves is stuck in the same hole. The film just about manages to keep the pace up throughout. Between the serious moments we get little flashes of humor.

When the gruesome scene eventually arrives it is handled very well. The act is quick and frenzied. The effects look realistic and the camera dwells more on the expression and actions of Arin rather than the chopped off arm. The film reminded me alot of Alive, most of the frenzy surrounding the film involves an act which the director doesn't see as the focus.

What we see instead of a dude chopping off his arm is the story of a character being pushed to the edge and the determination and guts required to survive. Behind all the cockyness is a normal man with regrets, hope and fears and Danny Boyle focuses on this instead of making "the buthers guide to arm removal".

Overall

Brilliantly made and great to watch. A fantastic story about how far someone will go to survive. Great performance from James Franco and Danny Boyle shows he can make a great film about a dude stuck under a rock.

4/5