127 Hours Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Rating: Null/10 (29 January 2011)

The incredibly versatile Danny Boyle has done it once again. With '127 Hours' he continues to prove that he can tackle any genre and make something amazing. '127 Hours' tells the story of adventurer Aron Ralston (played stupendously by James Franco) who was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. In this film, Boyle questions many issues, like how ignoring a swiss army knife could have made a huge difference, how people take their parents for granted and how, when it comes to survival, almost anything is worth sacrificing.
The film starts off with various split screen cuts before introducing Aron. Then it becomes energetic after Aron's introduction as he's ready to seek some adventure. This reminded me of documentaries about adventurers that I had watched on Discovery Channel, except with more sophisticated camera-work and editing. Speaking of cinematography, it is simply first rate. In addition, A.R. Rahman's score is fantastic.
Once Aron finds himself between a rock and a hard place, the overall tone of the film changes, from energetic to intense. Boyle effectively makes this transformation but at the same time he manages to keep a balance. There are some interesting shots such as the closeups of water being sucked out of the bottle or urine being deposited in a flask. The odd closeups of Franco's face also works well as the idea was to make it look as though it was shot with homemade camera.
Danny Boyle has been one of my all-time favourite directors and he never fails to positively surprise me with his films. '127 Hours' is no exception.