Irritating

Rating: 2/10 (30 August 2013)

I've seen this twice and the second time was just to confirm my initial thoughts. I thought maybe I missed something, seeing as it scores so highly here. Truth is, it just irritates me how somebody so stupid and reckless can be portrayed as some sort of hero. Boyle's freaky insights to Ralston's decaying mind only make matters worse. Had it been an out-and-out adventure film it might have worked better.
I'm sure Ralston is not alone in being reckless - most adrenaline junkies are to some extent, which is why so many of them get killed or injured. However, anybody venturing alone into the wilderness needs a bit of common sense, which Ralston clearly lacks. He takes one small bottle of water and little else of use on a trip into a hot, dry, remote area, a journey which only he knows about. That is not reckless, it is just plain stupid.
Within minutes of setting off on his bike he has an accident which could have left him seriously injured. Can't ride a bike, don't go careering across rough terrain. Then there is the drop into the pool, which I believe is not actually based on fact, but again illustrates how stupid he and the others were - one or more of them could easily have died.
Somehow surviving all this, he then clambers down a shear rock face over loose boulders and debris, so it is not surprising it turns out bad. Frankly from then on it goes from bad to worse, a long drawn-out affair detailing the rather dull and senseless thoughts of a guy who clearly is a sandwich short of a picnic. I'd have been happy for him to get his head trapped by the boulder and have the film end there. Talk about drawing it out ... yawn.
So really I fail to see what the point of this movie is. In parts it is nicely filmed and that saves it from scoring 1. There is no tension, no excitement, and surprisingly no real signs of a guy struggling to cling on to life, which I imagine is what one would be doing were one stupid enough to be trapped like this.
Anybody reading anything more into this must be sadly lacking in real life experience. It's pretentious twaddle.