Probably the best that it could have been...

Rating: 6/10 (31 October 2011)

Danny Boyle is a director with an eye for the modern. visceral styles, sharp editing and the belief that the combination of both will draw the audience into the action, emotion and mood of the situation at hand. There's no doubt that the stunning true story of adventurer Aron Ralston's accident resulting in his right arm becoming trapped under a rock in the middle of nowhere, required a special director and a style as described above.
Did he pull it off? It's a though sell, 90 minutes of a man and rock but I think it was done about as well as it could have been. The story is interesting and told with a sense of humour and a philosophical attitude appropriate for the subject matter, but it all boils down to the moment when he performs his DIY surgery, a plot point that may well sell the film to most people, as it sold news papers back in 2003.
Overall, well told, very well acted by James Franco as Ralston and along with Boyle's signature direction and jukebox soundtrack, whilst not blowing my skirt up, it made my wife cry, myself cringe and was as well conveyed as this story of a man trapped quite literally between as rock and hard place, ever could have been.