Movie Review: 127 Hours


Movie
– 127 Hours

Director: Danny Boyle (Slum Dog Millionaire, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later…)

Writer: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Slumdog Millionaire)

Starring: James Franco (Spider-Man, Milk, Howl), Kate Mara (Shooter, Iron Man 2, We Are Marshall), and Amber Tamblyn (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Ring, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt)

Theater – Cinemark Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa

Companion
– Nader

Food – King Buffet

Intellectual Honesty

I am a big fan of Danny Boyle. I think he is one of the most innovative filmmakers currently working and his movies are always interesting. 28 Days Later… is about the only straight zombie movie I can stomach. Slumdog Millionaire is one of the best and most inspiring movies of the last 10 years. The scene in Trainspotting with the baby (if you’ve seen Trainspotting you know what I’m talking about) haunts me to this day.

I’m not overly familiar with Simon Beaufoy, but after seeing his credits, I’m going to have to keep an eye on him.

I like James Franco, but he never seems to get a big enough role in his movies.

I’ve been a big fan of Amber Tamblyn ever since Joan of Arcadia. That is one of my all-time favorite shows that nobody else has ever seen, from when I used to watch television. Although bringing her up in the context of this movie is fairly pointless. Nobody but Franco is in this movie for more than a couple minutes.

Baggage

I think the only negative I brought into this movie was that I knew how it ended already. Thanks Willy! Thanks for nothing that is…

I guess considering there was a blizzard going on outside, I had some worries that I would make it out of the parking lot after the movie. If I was able to get out of the parking lot, would I be able to get home. If I was able to get home, would I be able to get home in time for my scheduled phone conversation with Jill.

Synopsis from IMDB

127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston’s remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he is finally rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident. Will they be the last two people he ever had the chance to meet?

Review

Two things.

Number one, this is a really, really good movie.

Number two, I’m not sure if I could ever watch it again.

Although I was impressed with Colin Firth’s portrayal of an inbred loser with a stammering problem in The King’s Speech and I’m pretty sure he will win the Oscar, I will now be rooting for Franco and his portrayal of a rock climber/adventurer (Aron Ralston) who gets trapped when a boulder falls on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah.

Franco essentially is this movie. After he parts company with two other hikers (Mara and Tamblyn) the rest of the movie is essentially him. For most of the movie he is essentially trapped by a rock and can’t even move. Despite this fact, the movie is never remotely boring. The movie bounces between Ralston’s attempts to free himself from the rock and his thoughts about his life and the mistakes he made that led him to this position and fantasies about partying with the two hikers that were the last people to see him, possibly alive.

Ralston carries a video camera with him and some of the best scenes in the film are when he is filming his goodbye to his parents and his sisters.

Although I’m sure most people know how this movie ends, I don’t want to give it away to the few people that don’t know. The reason why I’m not sure I could ever watch this movie again is because of the brutality in the scene where he does get himself free.

I don’t consider myself to be a squeamish person, but I could barely force myself to watch the movie screen during this scene.

On a less grotesque point of the movie, the canyons of Utah are filmed absolutely beautifully. It is an absolutely beautiful movie to look at.

It is a great movie with a great performance, so my only real complaint would be that sometimes the style of the movie overwhelms the story and I fear that at some point in the future will make this film feel dated.

Rating
4.0/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD

Honestly, I don’t know. I write now that I don’t know if I could ever watch this film again, but when this movie comes out on DVD, I’ll probably be buying it in the 2-Disc Special Edition, if there is a 2-Disc Special Edition.

2010 Ranking
I rank it as #3.

Here is my current Top Ten of 2010 (Subject to change on a whim)

1. The Social Network

2. Inception
3. 127 Hours
4. The Fighter
5. Hereafter
6. How to Train Your Dragon
7. Black Swan
8. Winter’s Bone
9. The King’s Speech
10. True Grit


Bonus Information

When we ate at King Buffet, we were the only people in the restaurant. The theater was mostly empty. If you eliminated the Oklahoma State Woman’s Basketball Team, the theater was practically vacant.

After get outside into the weather, I decided it was prudent to just stay in Ames, so I crashed at Jen and Derrick’s. Thanks to them for having an extremely comfortable guest bed!

I saw the trailer to Cedar Rapids. It looks pretty funny.

Up Next
Looks like Ames in only bringing in garbage next week, so a trip down to Jordan Creek to see Biutiful might be in order.

2 thoughts on “Movie Review: 127 Hours”

  1. Did you ever see “Freaks and Geeks” when it was on? Franco was great in that – I loved the show so much that I got it on DVD.

  2. Since I hardly every watch television and next to never watch network television, a show has to be very highly recommended for me to even give it a chance.

    Thank you rest of the world for sorting out the gristle so I don’t ever have to chomp on it!

    I do vaguely remember the show and I remember hearing positive things about it, but before I ever got around to giving it a try it was off the air.

    That means it was off the air in less than 4 seasons, which is how long a show needs to be on the air before I’m aware of its existence.

    Although, I think that show might have been canceled after 6 episodes.

    I’ll have to see if it is on Netflix and give it a gander at some point in the future.

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