127 Hours

“Hey there, Aron! Is it true that you didn’t tell anyone where you were going?”

“Oops!”

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. Let me start off by saying that this movie is not for the light-hearted, it is very gruesome, but also with a lot of heart. This isn’t your usual blockbuster action-adventure packed film, this is something much different.

Just when you think the movie is going to get boring it hits you with a scene that keeps your eyes glued, top off with a flawless performance from James Franco. I think that Franco has really came a long way as an actor, he caught the public’s eye when he played Peter Parker’s friend Harry Osborne, then playing Seth Rogen’s insane drug dealer Saul in Pineapple Express, and now he’s taken his career to a whole new level. I would be smitten if Franco doesn’t win an oscar for Best Actor at this years Academy Awards.

Now this may be going off topic a little, but I suppose it needs to be said. Aron’s water bottle is one of the most essential roles playing in his survival. Aron accepts that he has a very limited supply of water and needs to utilize the time he drinks very wisely. In one scene (25:50), right as they next day arrives, Aron takes a calm and collected “sip” of his water, then sets it down. Despite the fact that I mentioned water, that isn’t the only think Aron drinks (Hint: It’s yellow, and it’s not lemonade). For me, the “piss drinking” scene was very hard to watch, but it wasn’t as nearly as disturbing as the amputation sequence. But enough about that, time to get back on topic.

As I research on RottenTomatoes.com, I have concluded that from 2002-Present, that Danny Boyle hasn’t made a single bad film. I’m talking about one of my favorite directors here, he’s the guy who brought us “28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire, Millions, Sunshine, and now, 127 Hours. Not only is Boyle smart at what he does, he provides factual evidence to a true story. As Franco said in a recent interview: “My arm was really hurt, I had that fake boulder on me for a while!” This hints to the fact that Boyle is very, err… realistic and professional at what he does.