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127 Hours
(directed by Danny Boyle, 2010)
So, have you ever been trapped inside a canyon thanks to a big boulder pinning your arm to a rock wall? Aron Ralston (James Franco) has and here is a movie chronicling the 127 hours he spent in a quaint big old canyon that wouldn't let him leave until he cut half of his arm off, Saw movie style.
This is a difficult movie for me to review. On one very big level, this was a fantastic, down to Earth -- very down to Earth -- movie that deals with what happens when man gets too cocky and thinks he's bigger than Nature. Nature likes to test man. Random events like a boulder dislodging and relodging by your arm might occur and test your ability to survive. It's Saw meets the Blue John Canyon in Utah. The ultimate horror movie deals with Nature, the thing we cannot overpower, the thing we have to struggle with and work with, at all times, in order to stay alive and keep going. Destiny is whatever Nature throws our way. Get too assured of yourself and your place in the world and you might meet a bigger foe than you've ever known -- in Aron Ralston's case, it was the boulder, it was the canyon and it might have even been his own mind.
The film begins with him taking off at night to start another adventure out in the canyons. The next day, he meets two young women who are out hiking together. They come upon Aron and he takes them on a thrilling little journey that ends with a little pool party at the bottom of a canyon. The trio parts company, leaving Aron by himself and he soon finds himself trapped in his predicament. He has a water bottle, a video camera, a crappy knife, a rope and not much else. He's stuck and he ain't going nowhere. A raven flies by every morning - only once - and Aron says, "Hey" to it because there's no other creature around to talk to.
Most of the film features jazzy flashbacks and hallucinations, visual and auditory. What could have been a boring 127 hours is sexed up with the Scooby Doo theme song, an old girlfriend or someone that Aron used to know and had issues with and is thinking of again as he's trapped, images of Aron as a child and with his family, and he even plays chat show with himself using the video camera. I dunno -- to me, this kind of stuff helped the movie a lot, but it also diluted it, some. It gets a little too clever and cute with the visuals -- he jabs a knife into his arm, we see an inside point of view of what's happening in that arm. He sticks his lips inside the hole of a bottle, we see (almost rather obscenely looking) a point of view from inside the bottle with just his lips. These little touches, although cool, cheapen the film for me, somewhat. It's the feeling of... too much. It's a great present with too much wrapping paper, too many bows, too much confetti and glitter. I mean, we get to watch him cut half his arm off -- and it's excruciating, y'all -- so the movie just kind of does a little too much. I dunno, I could have done with a little more agony from James Franco, even though I love him. He hosted the Oscars recently and that was more painful than this.
But, 127 Hours is still a fun little movie that touches deeply with the human spirit. Danny Boyle just overdid it a little with his "Jai Ho" Slumdog Millionaire style. Not everything needs a song and dance number. Nature's favorite song is the scream of an anguished human being.
(directed by Danny Boyle, 2010)
So, have you ever been trapped inside a canyon thanks to a big boulder pinning your arm to a rock wall? Aron Ralston (James Franco) has and here is a movie chronicling the 127 hours he spent in a quaint big old canyon that wouldn't let him leave until he cut half of his arm off, Saw movie style.
This is a difficult movie for me to review. On one very big level, this was a fantastic, down to Earth -- very down to Earth -- movie that deals with what happens when man gets too cocky and thinks he's bigger than Nature. Nature likes to test man. Random events like a boulder dislodging and relodging by your arm might occur and test your ability to survive. It's Saw meets the Blue John Canyon in Utah. The ultimate horror movie deals with Nature, the thing we cannot overpower, the thing we have to struggle with and work with, at all times, in order to stay alive and keep going. Destiny is whatever Nature throws our way. Get too assured of yourself and your place in the world and you might meet a bigger foe than you've ever known -- in Aron Ralston's case, it was the boulder, it was the canyon and it might have even been his own mind.
The film begins with him taking off at night to start another adventure out in the canyons. The next day, he meets two young women who are out hiking together. They come upon Aron and he takes them on a thrilling little journey that ends with a little pool party at the bottom of a canyon. The trio parts company, leaving Aron by himself and he soon finds himself trapped in his predicament. He has a water bottle, a video camera, a crappy knife, a rope and not much else. He's stuck and he ain't going nowhere. A raven flies by every morning - only once - and Aron says, "Hey" to it because there's no other creature around to talk to.
Most of the film features jazzy flashbacks and hallucinations, visual and auditory. What could have been a boring 127 hours is sexed up with the Scooby Doo theme song, an old girlfriend or someone that Aron used to know and had issues with and is thinking of again as he's trapped, images of Aron as a child and with his family, and he even plays chat show with himself using the video camera. I dunno -- to me, this kind of stuff helped the movie a lot, but it also diluted it, some. It gets a little too clever and cute with the visuals -- he jabs a knife into his arm, we see an inside point of view of what's happening in that arm. He sticks his lips inside the hole of a bottle, we see (almost rather obscenely looking) a point of view from inside the bottle with just his lips. These little touches, although cool, cheapen the film for me, somewhat. It's the feeling of... too much. It's a great present with too much wrapping paper, too many bows, too much confetti and glitter. I mean, we get to watch him cut half his arm off -- and it's excruciating, y'all -- so the movie just kind of does a little too much. I dunno, I could have done with a little more agony from James Franco, even though I love him. He hosted the Oscars recently and that was more painful than this.
But, 127 Hours is still a fun little movie that touches deeply with the human spirit. Danny Boyle just overdid it a little with his "Jai Ho" Slumdog Millionaire style. Not everything needs a song and dance number. Nature's favorite song is the scream of an anguished human being.