A truly captivating and forever memorable story about the human will to survive.

Rating: 10/10 (10 January 2011)

Danny Boyle's very good film Slumdog Millionaire scooped eight Oscars. 127 Hours his follow up has been nominated for 3 Golden Globes and already eighteen other nomination categories, which includes Best Leading Man, James Franco. Frankly 127 Hours deserves a handful of these. This movie grabbed my attention straight away, from the first shot. Throughout we see the camera split in two screens, hand-held, documentary style like camera and conventional shooting. The first minute shows a marvellous split screen montage, which is then split into three as we are introduced to James Franco's character based on a true story Aron Ralston who whilst hiking and climbing in the canyons of Utah comes across two pretty female hikers Kristi (Kate Mara) and Megan (Amber Tamblyn) who are lost, he helps them find their way and they find out is a cocky, daredevil free type guy who likes to have fun when they jump into a large pool from climbing in between two walls that opens into a large cave face. I felt the rush and adrenaline as he and the girls jumped into the pool as though I was actually there and that's what makes this thing even more authentic with the way it was shot and the fact it is based on a true story.
Eventually though he leaves them to do his own thing but falls down a small canyon and gets his right arm stuck between the wall and large rock. This happens about twenty minutes in and from the look in Aron's eyes it's clear he never faced this sort of helplessness before. From here we really get inside the character's head as he tries desperately to escape trying several methods, whilst at the same time trying to survive on little food and water as he talks into his video-camera about how he feels as he begins to hallucinate as his situation deteriorates rapidly over the five days he is stuck there. From being trapped Aron starts to realise his selfishness at how he has lived his life and treated other people like not keeping in contact with his parents, by taking them for granted and his unwillingness to commit. All these are told in flashbacks. Also wisely throughout Aron's ordeal Boyle has added a few moments of bleak humour that lightens the mood slightly and gives the film a better balance.
127 Hours is truly a film that perfectly captures the human spirit and will to survive as we see Aron desperately trying to escape his predicament. We the audience are fully versed to Aron's fear and regrets, as I felt whilst watching it, the fact I sometimes take my family for granted and for a movie to do that, make the viewer pause and reflect on themselves is not something that is easily done, which makes the film all the more clever for it. Not only that you are tuned to the notion of coming to care about him and want him to get out as I related to him, you can place yourself in his shoes imagining yourself in a similar situation. The stylish camera-work helps reinforce that but so does James Franco's performance, I quite like him in the Spiderman films, but this was more real-life, serious drama and a role that challengingly flexed him and he worked up to it, with a performance of his life. It was tremendous and he has already been nominated for an award, which is richly deserved. As to far as the amputation scene, it is very brutal, yes and if you are squeamish of blood I wouldn't recommend it but the full impact is shortened in the film so it isn't as shocking as it seems and I have seen worse. 127 Hours though I can recommend fully for those who want to find a simple but incredibly fascinating true story of character. I saw my first film of the year last week, which was The Next Three Days with Russell Crowe, which was excellent, but this was even better. This film is serious contender for best film of 2011 so far, but there are still eleven months to go so we'll see. Let's hope 2011 for terrific films continues. 127 Hours truly is one of the most memorable films I have ever seen and I can't give it higher praise than that.