Movie Review - 127 Hours

127 Hours is a brave experiment in filmmaking. For Danny Boyle, hot off the Best Picture/Best Director double win of Slumdog Millionaire to choose to co-write, produce, and direct an adaptation of Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aaron Ralston was a ballsy move. This is a story which has an ending everyone is familiar with and with a climax that many people will not want to watch. That Boyle pulls it off and produces a hypnotic, enthralling, very human picture is something to be proud of and excited about.

127 Hours (for those not in the know) is about Aaron Ralston, a young, seemingly-invincible naturalist survival enthusiast who runs into trouble and gets stuck for days in the middle of nowhere. Ralston is trapped, crushed between two rocks for more than five days before he takes the drastic step of cutting his own arm off at the elbow and hiking out to find help. Boyle doesn't spend much time doing anything other than getting Ralston (played magnificently by James Franco) into his predicament and keeping him sealed there until the inevitable and gut-wrenching act that defines Ralston's will to live.

For a picture to keep it's main character alone and in one place for much of the movie is a great feat. That it remains interesting and watchable, with a sense of energy and character development, is even more impressive. Boyle has given us a second main character this year (after Mark Zuckerberg from The Social Network) who is difficult to root for. Selfish, self-absorbed, and fully in love with himself and his abilities, Ralston is tough to love. He's cocky and abrasive. He screens his family's calls and ignores any safety precautions that he would consider basic for people taking the action he takes. He brags about how far and quickly he covers terrain, and draws other hikers into a dangerous situation out of bravado.

Yet, while Franco stands there, stuck by a rock we see him change. We see the reality of his situation sink in. We watch his best efforts to free himself fail. We agonize along with him at his low stores of food and water. We see the elements that Ralston feels so comfortable in and in command of, fully consume him. And, as Boyle tells the story, this affects him. Aaron uses his video camera to film testimonials (the result of watching too many reality TV shows) and messages to his family. He realizes his faults and apologizes for his many errors. Boyle also uses the situation to revel in his stylistic predispositions. Boyle is like Tony Scott with more edge and a little more reason to indulge himself. Ralston hallucinates, dreams, remembers, and has nightmares - all of which aid us in our understanding of his terrible predicament and his essential flaws.

Franco's acting is really pretty amazing. In a less crowded year, and honestly in a year in which he was NOT hosting the Academy Awards, he'd receive a lot more love. This is a bravura turn amplified like a live wire. When Franco turns to the last possible salvation available to him, when he decides to do the unthinkable, it is becuase he really has no options left. Boyle and Franco have put us in that unbelievable position and dared us to ask ourselves "what would I do?"

I went into the film knowing the beginning, middle, and end. I went in knowing how everything will resolve itself. I was still surprised, pleased, shocked, and moved. While 127 Hours is not my pick for Best Picture this year, it is pretty powerful filmmaking and certainly a film to see.