Beyond Inspirational, Superbly Directed and Brilliantly Acted

Rating: 10/10 (16 January 2011)

Just finished watching 127 Hours, I still have the credits and song playing in the background. Kind of speechless right now with what I just watched. I feel like I was trapped in a canyon with my arm stuck. Where to start.
Boyle is on top of his game with this one and right away you can tell its a Danny Boyle movie. It has fast cuts, hand held camera work and a beautifully appropriate constructed soundtrack. Using all these tools he places you right in Aaron Ralston shoes, and they are not the shoes you want to be in. We are introduced to Aaron, played by Franco, getting ready for a hiking expedition and his journey as he gets there. He rides his bike 17 miles, locks it up and then hikes running into two girl hikers. He helps them on their way and shows them a ton of fun. Through the prelude here, we see that Aaron is a fun loving guy, living for the thrill of living, the rush, he just wants to be outdoors, which will ultimately put him through hell. I thought this had one of the better preludes of a film in a while, with upbeat music, beautifully shot scenery, your ready to join him yourself. It's not until a rock falls and is lodged between the canyon wall and his arm are we shown the title 127 Hours, and with Franco's terrified face. Just an awesome shot, and really all we need to see to understand what is to come.
For the next Hour and fifteen minutes we are with Aaron, stuck. We are dealing with Aaron's mortality, and thus thinking of our own. From here Boyle direction and Franco's acting places you in the canyon. He uses extreme close ups on Franco's face repeatedly to instill a sense of claustrophobia and fear (this more so due to Franco's acting). There are even shots from the inside of his thermos and camel back, placing you in Aaron's mind. Imagining the water flowing to you and becoming less and less. There are few times he will use a shot that pans back from the canyon and displays the empty desert creating for the audience Aaron's loneliness and crushing reality of his surroundings. The sound was an especially well done aspect, specifically with the water. Boyle cranks up the sound of the water sloshing around in the thermos, or going through the hose in the camel back, you'll actually get thirsty while watching. While Boyle places the audience in the canyon with his direction the writing and Franco make us start to deal with our own mortality.
Throughout the time in the canyon, you are constantly shown flashbacks and memories of Aaron's leading up to the event. He starts out with what we all would start with, regret about not telling anyone where he was going, what he should have brought with him, etc. As time goes on he starts to think about life, how he treated people that he loved, and what he's leaving behind. Up until the climatic vision that gives him the strength to survive. And really who wouldn't be doing this. He constantly is keeping record on his video camera, keeping his own sanity as well as the audience's. Really the whole time you are thinking that that's probably what you yourself would be doing and thinking thus really making you think about your own life.
Its an extremely powerful film. Inspirational, depressing, scary, and the climax of the film is grotesquely real. Its such an unbelievable amazing true story of survival and what the human body and mind are capable of. I'd say go out and enjoy it, but I don't know if enjoy is the right word. I can guarantee that you will be moved and inspired by this film due to Boyles direction, Franco's acting, and of course the real Aaron Ralston.