Rating of
3/4
127 Hours, no showers
Pat - wrote on 05/31/16
Danny Boyle, director of the Oscar-Winning 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, surprises us with 127 Hours, a short but still full-length film based on a true story about Aron Ralston who basically finds himself stuck in a serious physical bind while trying to hike. That is, his arm is stuck between where he was hiking and a large rock.
Many may think it’s a simple premise and those many are correct. So does this film successfully depict a simple premise in such a short amount of time? Absolutely. First of all, in this movie James Franco IS the hiker. In other words, I felt like this was live footage but still an extremely coherent film with a great acting performance. The fact that it feels so realistic is golden.
Of course, there are instances of gruesome imagery in this movie because the premise begs so. But it is still unstoppably interesting to observe what the protagonist does using his resources throughout the physically brutal bind he is in.
This movie is not a the type that you sit down with your friends and enjoy the ride. It’s painful, it’s emotional, and it’s so much more than you would expect out of a simple premise. James Franco killed it in his role, and Danny Boyle killed it in the way he simply mapped out 127 Hours.
I thought this movie was great, but it's re-watch value is very low. But that absolutely does not hold back 127 Hours from receiving 3 of 4 stars.
