127 Hours

127 Hours
2010
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn

The true story of a hero. A man, who we shall regard in the highest, finds himself in the lime light for simply saving his own life. The story of Aron Ralston has been heard many times over. In the spring of 2003, he set out alone on a hike and climb through the mountains of the Utah desert. After having a swim with two strangers, he continues to jump and bound throughout the wilderness. No cell phone, no other people there, no notification as to where he was going.

While climbing down a steep rock, a boulder comes loose knocking Ralston and the next five days into an abyss. The rock comes down awkwardly on his right arm and it is now stuck. Standing, stuck for five days, this story of struggle and survival brings forth a sense of awesome heroics and strength. Documenting his battle between a rock and a hard place, he seems to lose his mind, but also gain a realization of how dumb he was to not let one person know where he was going.

Getting to the movie, it was alright. Danny Boyle's fast-paced style convincingly told the story in the 94 minute time frame. However, it felt like he did rush things a bit. I said this right after the movie to a friend who had read the book documenting Ralston's bout. My friend told me that there were some details left out of the movie that he would have liked to see put in. I enjoyed the movie, and it told me the story, but that was pretty much it.

James Franco delivered a somewhat believable performance as a man stuck by himself for 5 days. Having to take such a limited setting and stretch it into a movie I can imagine is indeed difficult, but I thought there would be a lot more flashbacks and back story to his life. The flashbacks that were there fell short of meaningful and some didn't even make sense. I feel that Boyle could have spent more time finalizing a slightly better script and way of directing this amazing tale.

Now for the rant. There was product placement. And I know I have friends who will tell me "it's all about the business" for these people. But the product placement was so blatant that it took away from the movie. When Ralston first becomes lodged between rocks, he begins pulling out supplies to see what he can use to help his arm free. He strategically places a small billfold with a gigantic CAPITAL ONE credit card blinding you in the screen. So here's my question, he brought his fancy credit card but no cell phone? Service or no service, he did not have the phone regardless which is strange for me. Getting back to my friend that read the book, he said that Ralston never had a wallet on him during the ordeal. I understand the showing of the CANON logo on his camera, along with other small decals on his hiking gear, but the Capital One credit card completely turned me off. And this was only about 25 minutes into the movie.

Stars (out of 10): 5