127 Hours movie review

Most people writing about 127 hours comment on how amazing it was that Danny Boyle was able to make such an effective, stylistic film about a character trapped in one location for almost a week. I say: What did people really expect?

Showing up to a Boyle flick I know I’m going to get the following: Great visuals, fascinating compositions, a great soundtrack, and, more than anything else, a kinetic energy from his camera work that is unmatched by any active film director. Boyle might have more camera movement in 5 seconds of this movie than Eastwood has in all his movies combine.

Who else would travel with the camera being slow cranked (therefore the camera is “fast motion”) from Aron Ralston all the way to his car where Ralston’s Gatarode is? Maybe Aronofsky. Just maybe.

Going into 127 Hours almost everyone knows the deal. Some dude Aron Ralston was hiking alone in Utah and got his arm stuck and had to cut it off. Awesome.

What’s odd is, America seemed to forget about this, but it captivated the mind of Boyle and many other Englanders. I even remember Ralston was one of the people English celebrity Karl Pilkington listed as a guest at his hypothetical “last meal” (Even though he refereed to him as “that bloke that cut his arm off”)

This video is masturbation worthy:

I’m guessing that Americans reacted the same way I did when they heard that he’d gotten stuck alone: Moron. I was wrong. Aron Ralston is not a moron. Well, he kind of is, but he just made a big, big mistake. Franco likely earns himself an Academy nomination for playing Ralston (if that even matters) and he just might win.

He just might be one of the most versatile actors around right now. Jumping from Spiderman to the dramatic Milk then to the comedic Pineapple Express you get the impression he can do anything. And nothing feels gimmicky like Ben Kingsley smoking weed or overtly performance based like Daniel Day Lewis.

More recently a less glamorous “stuck in one place and I lost my arm” event happened.  A dude got his arm stuck in his fucking furnace and he tried to cut it off but couldn’t finish. He was then found a few days later by his friends but lost the arm anyway. I laughed really hard when I heard that and hope to hear a glory hole nightmare story emerge.

There are other movies about moronic, adventurous, middle-class, white people abandoning the hustle and bustle of life for the wilderness. The great films Into the Wild and Grizzly Man come to mind. Is being rich, white, and American really so tough? Cry me a river.

When Ralston cuts off his arm it is the ultimate exercise in subjective filming. It should be studied in film classes for its craftsmanship. It is pretty gross, but how could it not be?

This is one of best movies you’ll see this year, outmatched only by The Social Network.

Collin says: A/5