127 Hours: Review By slysnide

Remember the story of Aron Ralston? That guy who went canyoneering in the appropriately dubbed Canyonlands National Park and got a boulder smashing his arm against a canyon wall? And he was stuck there for presumably 127 hours? Well, you may not have thought such a story could be stretched into a theatrical film. But surprisingly, it was.

Director Danny Boyle reunites most of his crew from "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008) for the retelling of this harrowing tale of survival that probably caught you off guard when you first heard about it. But rather than filling this up with several flashbacks of Aron's life which would offset the viewer to the survival story, Danny only does that in flashes so as to make the vast majority of the film devoted to Aron being stuck in the slot canyon trying to survive, prevent himself from losing it, and trying to sharpen his cheap switch blade.

Adding visceral moments like the commercial styled imagery of assorted drinks to exemplify Aron's thirst, and fully realizing the reality of trying to cut one's arm off with a puny knife without making it seem like a cheesy rip off of any one of the numerous "Saw" films (2004-2010) goes to show that this isn't about clocking time till that final moment. But rather, it's like a docudrama showcasing the true pressing moments besides the getting trapped, then rescued part which typically excludes the visceral nature of facing imminent death. To make that seem all the more real, cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle utilized many Dutch shots which resemble the point of view of a camcorder like the one Aron has. It's as if canyoneers have lost numerous camcorders all in the same region, and we're privy to their everlasting battery power to seem equally trapped. Only twice does Danny allow the camera to swoop out of the slot canyon, and that's to fully realize the scope of the region, how isolated he is, and even better, just how futile his calls for help really are. Though it's all the more powerful as the majority of the film takes place in that small slot canyon. Thus, the shots of the region as a whole are memorable.

James Franco's performance as the happy-go-lucky canyoneer starts out that way, somewhat reckless and adventurous, yet in the blink of an eye, changes to become an "Ah sh*t" situation rather than an "Oh sh*t" situation. However the latter is soon realized when he discovers that he can't pull a few muscles to escape the boulder. And then, ever so slowly, his performance evolves to become more tired, yet keeping his cool by making sarcastic comments about his reckless nature to his camcorder. And then eventually to the hydration deprived sallow young guy with minor hallucinations abound. So case in point is that his performance is ever evolving from when he lands in the slot canyon. It just builds really slowly.

Reminds me of the time back on 3/27/10 when my friend and I got bored with a paved trail down to the American River, so we took a sharp U-Turn down "Cardiac Trail" which was a true tumultuous path with numerous switchbacks till reaching a parking lot originally put in place for the Auburn Dam Project. Then we took another turn down the old service road to the river, except the bypass tunnel for the water had since been destroyed, so we couldn't cross it to reach the nice shaded beach on the opposite end, and having made it as far as we had, decided to trudge through the river and hop the fence of the temporary pump house to then walk up the ever increasingly steep concrete driveway. At one point climbing through prickly thatch to bypass a long switchback, which took longer than anticipated. With it being 100+ outside, and our water mostly used up on an oddly humid day, this 5hr endeavor was exhausting. Though not as backbreaking as literally shoveling two tons of dirt down a steep inclined driveway to backfill just under half of the backyard for two retaining walls to level out the ground. With it also being 100+ with one shovel, one wheelbarrow, and one weekend to finish it--not to mention being skinny as a rail--then this too was an exhausting endeavor. So much in fact that when walking home from the local high school I bought I supersized slurpee from 7-11 which sported a Darth Vader head in advertisements form the upcoming release of "Revenge of the Sith" (2005) in 10 days. Yet even that didn't allow me to even notice that my mom was driving slowly past up the steep hill home asking for me to just get in the car. A stroke of luck yes, but you get how exhausting and sucky that whole thing was. Case in point, Franco's performance as the slowly dying canyoneer was all the more relatable, and all the more pressing. Extremely believable.

This overall is not a film for replay value. It's one of those harrowing survival stories that gets you to appreciate your life without having to even think twice about it. Managing to capture the essence of all the people that he wishes to see again without being bogged down with flashbacks to the point where one would be surprised at the amount of supporting roles. And the violent end so real, so visceral, that even a hardcore like me cringed at the realism of his solution to his problem. Yet I can tell it wouldn't be the same on a repeat viewing. But still worth a NetFlix. I highly advise it over purchasing the film. And try this one alone without anything to rehydrate you, possibly in mid-summer or winter for the cold weathered canyon as this film works both ways. It'd probably do wonders for your reception of the film.