We're Still Waiting For Boyle's Masterwork

Rating: 6/10 (7 January 2011)

Danny Boyle can be a very frustrating film maker . SHALLOW GRAVE was made on a total shoestring and perhaps it was this that caused it to be hype . TRAINSPOTTING was considered an unflimable novel but Boyle had a good try though he was helped by Robert Carlyle's show stopping performance as Begbie . 28 DAYS LATER had a rather derivative and illogical screenplay by Alex Garland but Boyle rose above it to make what is considered a genre masterpiece . SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is one of the most unlikely success stories in modern cinema , a story revolving around karma , set in India with an unknown cast that the whole world fell in love with . He has had a few misses however . A LIFE LESS ORDINARY was way below ordinary , THE BEACH showed Boyle isn't suited to Hollywood style film making while SUNSHINE proved he's not suited to space opera either . Despite all this you're always expecting Boyle to come up with a masterwork that will get the whole world falling back in awe . He closest to this with SM but I always think his masterwork is still to come
127 DAYS is based on the true life incident of Aron Halston , a young man who while hiking through the Utah desert fell down a crevice and had his arm trapped by a boulder and who had to take the most extreme measures to save his life . On the surface this is one of these movies award ceremonies love - courage in the face of adversity , but not something that will set the box office alight . In many ways it's something ready made for Boyle . It's not something that can be termed blockbuster but perhaps the director could weave film making magic out of it . Does he succeed ?
First of all the trailer is slightly misleading . It seems similar to THE BEACH where some American dude teams up with a couple of hot chicks and does some seriously partying . Thankfully the film deviates away the marketing and concentrates on Ralston's trauma of being trapped . You're left thinking this is for the best since Ralston come across a little bit too sure of himself , a little bit too smart and a little too popular with hot chicks to get the audience entirely on his side so Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beauefoy deservesome credit in to making him something of an everyman who has dreams , ambitions and family
This approach works well but the problem with the movie is that the whole premise doesn't comfortably lend itself to commercial film making . It's not an entirely involving film because the audience know the out come of the story and because the protagonist is on his own there's little dialogue and the story telling is done via obvious flashbacks to Ralston's life . The Discovery Channel does countless documentaries on these type of stories but they're rare in cinema and there might be a very obvious reason for this . There's two ways at looking at this
1 ) Boyle deserves congratulations for making an uncinematic film
2 ) The film fails because it is uncinematic
The first view is totally valid but unfortunately so is the second point to a large extent
As you might expect from Boyle it's impressive on a technical level with outstanding cinematography , editing and sound , though some people may quickly get fed up with the split screen technique . James Franco is impressive as Ralston and will certainly get an Oscar nomination but 127 HOURS will be one of the bridesmaids at the award season where THE KINGS SPEECH , BLACK SWAN and THE SOCIAL NETWORK will dominate while Boyle fans look forward to his next project