A potentially profound adventure handled like it wasn't. (Just not bad)

Rating: 6/10 (11 June 2011)

Aron Ralston is trapped in a canyon in Arizona with his arm wedged between the canyon wall and a boulder. He has half a bottle of water, a pair of wire cutters, a video camera, and nobody around to hear him.
considering the hype for this film and the intensity of the premise, I was a little disappointed at the execution. To put it as literally as I can, director Danny Boyle takes a story that is potentially terrifying and he turns it into a music video. It moves too fast and contains disorienting flashbacks, clumsy cuts, over exaggerated music ques, and misuse of split screening. There is little sense of subjectivity or patience to the film. It shows a lack of faith in the attention span of its audience.
James Franco is easily more vibrant than anything in his previous career, but he doesn't embody the character as well as I had hoped. I didn't sense the desperation of the situation in his performance. He plays it quiet when it should be loud, and sometimes vice versa. Another problem with the character is that Boyle cuts around him too much.
As many mistakes as I felt Boyle made, He hasn't yet disappointed me as a photographer. Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire, and even The Beach (which was slop) were vibrant and well shot. 127 Hours is easily the most vibrant of them all, making effective use of colour temperature, scope, and camera angles. One angle in particular worth noting is the intimacy of being inside Aron's video camera. There is also a memorable moment where we follow a rusty tool as it digs into his bloodstream. This brings me to my next point.
The much discussed arm cutting scene is seriously over hyped. I can name a dozen films that will make you more squeamish. Therefore, if this is the reason you've chosen to avoid 127 Hours then it's the wrong reason. A better reason might be to mark me when I tell you that it's a rather miscalculated experience, good in parts but too shallow and flashy for its own good.