It is exactly "an action movie with a guy who can't move."

Rating: 9/10 (18 July 2017)

Danny Boyle's biographical survival drama is based on the real life story of Aron Ralston's ill-fated trip to the chasm of an isolated slot canyon in Blue John Canyon, south eastern Utah and more specifically from his memoir "Between a Rock and a Hard Place". Set in April, 2003 – It follows adventurer Ralston (James Franco) as he hikes through a slot canyon.
While climbing down it, he accidentally slips and falls. A boulder pins his arm against the canyon wall and he is stuck. His several attempts at removing the boulder and calling for help are to no avail. He begins recording a video diary on his camera (so as to keep a running dialogue with the audience) and rations his food and water. He then starts using his pocketknife to carve away parts of the boulder so as to unlock his arm.
"127 Hours" is purely a James Franco show — there are other people in the cast, like a couple of hikers (Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn) he briefly meets, and flashbacks to his sister (Lizzy Caplan) and his girlfriend (Clémence Poésy), all glimpsed in memories, but for the majority of the run-time of Danny Boyle's film Franco is alone on screen, doing a remarkable job of holding our attention with no one to talk to but his camera and his own increasingly desperate self.
Wondering how on earth he got to that stage drives the narrative and provides all the tension we need. By also inter-cutting Franco's performance with flashbacks, what could have been a necessarily static film became quite dynamic!
It is exactly "an action movie with a guy who can't move".