It's not just watching him cutting of his own arm, it's understanding why.

Rating: 8/10 (14 November 2010)

I have always given high praise to director Danny Boyle. I loved "28 Days Later" and "Sunshine". But the film he is most famous for, is probably my least favorite. Sorry if i go against the grain here, but i thought "Slumdog Millionaire" was just plain okay. It wasn't anything i would go around hootin' and hollarin' about, and it certainly wasn't something i would consider worthy of winning best picture of 2008. Never the less, he is a great filmmaker, and none of his films are ever alike. So i am glad to see that a director like him is tackling something as extraordinary as this story.
I'm sure we all remember hearing this story way back when. The man who cut off his own arm to save his life. A human coyote. Asside from the story being very prolific, the question is, can you make a man trapped in a canyon by himself an entertaining picture? The answer here is both yes, and no. While the movie does a great job of explaining and making you understand his ultimate want and desire to cut off his own arm in order to survive, it didn't really create this overwhelming feeling of life. By that i mean, i didn't feeling this desirable urge for him to escape. I wasn't hoping and praying that he would be rescued like i wanted to be. Yes, the movie does create these scenarios, and they are very very good. But let's face it, with a movie like this, you want to be standing on your feet cheering your heart out from the inside.
And that really is my only problem with the movie. It really isn't a big one, and it doesn't effect the movie by any means. It's just one of those things that could have been a little better.
Other than that, everything else was top notch. Danny Boyle combined with his directing and incredible editing team make this journey both fast paced and emotional at the same time......something very hard to accomplish. But the thing everyone will be talking about is James Franco, who in my opinion, just gave the best performance of his life. I have always praised actors who have nothing around them to work with, and create scenes with their body movements. And James Franco is one of the reasons why i support this belief. Don't be surprised to be hearing his name around Oscar season.
Now onto the event that i'm sure everyone wants to hear about, and that is the final arm cutting climax. Now, i have seen some pretty down right and dirty things on film before.......and this is pretty bad. I hardly ever squirm, and i was squirming really hard. I mean, the guy cuts off his arm with a pocket knife, how do you not make it gory? Bottom Line, the movie is easily one of the best i have seen so far this year. No, i don't think this is THE best of the year, but it certainly deserves to be in the ranks of this years top 10. But this movie easily deserves numerous Oscar noms.