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Danny Boyle's 127 Hours : Movie Review

January 30th 2011 17:07

James Franco in Danny Boyle's 127 Hours

Danny Boyle’s recently released and much anticipated 127 Hours is based on the real life story of mountaineer and adventure enthusiast Aron Ralston (James Franco) who got trapped in a chasm with his hand inextricably jammed underneath a heavy boulder. This is the story of Ralston’s desire to live which finally saw him through against incredible odds when (after 127 hours) he finally cut off his hand with a pen knife (talk about desperation) and trudged nearly 8 miles before being rescued. Much of the movie is narrated in retrospect and through flashbacks as Ralston’s thoughts often wondered to precious memories of his past while remaining trapped in his solitary confinement.

Movie Making of 127 Hours

The movie making of 127 Hours is all about extremes—from the extreme isolation of Ralston’s rocky prison to the sounds and laughter of people from Ralston’s past (including the two tourists he met directly before the accident), from the vast ochre desolation of the mountains to sudden explosions of color in Ralston’s recollections, from super close up macro shots suddenly zooming out to helicopter views—and it really boosts the thrill of 127 Hours. A.R. Rahman’s background scores (Oscar nomination) along with some other well utilized sound effects (like a dentist’s drill when Ralston is mutilating himself) further add to the watchability of movie.

However, the thing that really makes 127 Hours special and thoroughly enjoyable is the tremendous photography of Anthony Dod Mantle and Enrique Chediak who seems to have almost invented a new dimension as they let the camera soar up from Ralphston’s chasm to a point high in the sky so that it becomes just a narrow creak or somehow make the camera follow the flow of water as it rushes through the tube of the bottle and into Ralston’s mouth.

Verdict on 127 Hours

127 Hours is like taking a page off Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea and really revamp it to meet the demands of today’s fast paced entertainment addict crowds. As critic Jonathon Romney beautifully and concisely puts it “… the film dissipates suspense with bursts of furious energy…instead of an existential drama of anguished endurance, Boyle has made an all out entertainment: an extreme sports movie about an extreme dude. 127 Hours is so jam packed with cinema there’s not much room for a film…”

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