Dramatic, emotional, disgusting, clever, amazing.....

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2011)

Dramatic, emotional, disgusting, clever, amazing. James Franco gave us an Oscar worthy performance as he manages to convey a variety of emotions: comedy, sorrow, anger etc. He carried the film really well. This is like "I Am Legend" in how an actor is able to carry the film when it's just him and the film...yet it worked. The emotion and James Franco carried the film extremely well. It was not boring and when he did cut his arm off you couldn't help but look, but the look away again. However i didn't approve of the frequent use of the "F" word plus there were a couple of sexual references which i didn't like and prevented me from marking it 10/10. The filmmaking was clever and the editing brilliant. You had those moments when he was alone in the wide open spaces where it was just quite, and long shots of Aron and it just worked! Plus when it rained and he was stuck in the canon the music and the quick editing was very dramatic and built up the tension, but also when he cut his arm off the music kept building up and the various angle shots and the screams from Aron just made you feel all tense inside...it was brilliant, but other little sequences had impressive camera work. The ending is very uplifting and you couldn't help but leave with a smile on your face. Defiently Oscar worthy (mainly for acting, directing, cinematography etc.) Really good!