Wednesday, 3 October 2012

DVD review: 127 hours


An hiker is trapped by a falling boulder in a narrow canyon.

Based on an incredible true story that you probably heard about, if you didn’t I won’t spoil it for you, suffice to say that this is a great story of human survival and that it all really happened.
What I have to spoil is that 90% of the movie takes place under that boulder. I know that the prospect sounds incredibly dull and I strongly suspect that the difficult of making a proper movie out of it was what prompted director Danny Boyle to create, write and direct this movie, but I assure you that Boyle couldn’t make a boring movie even if he tried.
Movie fans will get a particular pleasure watching it. Boyle displays an array of new interesting shoots that is noteworthy even for him. Suffice to say that, even for the studio filmed part, he didn’t put any removable part in the setting because he wanted to submit the camera to the same tribulations that Aaron Ralston, our protagonist, had to go through. Then we get to the extended shoot on location, in an incredibly forlorn place that can be reached only by foot and only if you are really a prepared hiker, or canyoneer as Wikipedia informs us.
But this is not just a movie for movie fans. The whole ordeal that happens to Ralston is extremely gripping, beautifully shoot, never ever boring. We follow Ralston various attempts to set himself free and, through the smart use of many artistic devices we also follow his mental and emotive state. This is a movie that will leave you drained in the end.
Of course we now that James Franco is more than a pretty face but with this movie he can certainly lay claim to the status of master in his craft. His performance is simply massive and he literally carries the whole movie on his own shoulders.
A masterpiece, recommended to fans of good stories.

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