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Created Nov 26, 2010 07:53PM PST • Edited Dec 11, 2019 06:44PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Good 3.0

   A real life horror movie about a bizarre true event, 127 Hours will surely be too intense for many people. It documents a lone hiker slipping down a slot canyon deep in the Utah backcountry. Bad enough. Then a sandstone boulder follows him down, crushing his right arm. It couldn’t get much worse, right?

   Of course it got worse. The pinned extremity – killed by the boulder – consigned him to certain death. It had to go. It was him or his right hand, and wrist, and forearm. Aron Ralston’s autobiography of this ’03 death defying experience: Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Excellent title.

   Ralston’s existential experience forced him to see himself without illusions, realizing that he’s the sort of selfish fool who wouldn’t inform anyone of his destination. So even if he can amputate his own arm, to get saved he’s still gotta run into someone smack in the middle of thousands of square miles of wilderness. Curtains.

   It’s no secret that he did survive, giving this rFactor 1.1 (i.e., largely true) movie the problem of a known ending to go with the problem of a single dimensional story that unfolds in a claustrophobic setting.

   Thus this amazing but true tale barely animates an entire movie, notwithstanding director Danny Boyle’s flamboyant filmmaking and James Franco’s great performance as Aron Ralston. That leaves the movie stuck between OK and Great. So I gave it a Good.

   Fans of Boyle (and who’s not after Slumdog Millionaire), Franco, or backcountry adventure will find 127 Hours a rewarding movie. Everyone else, especially those without strong stomaches, stay away.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   James Franco is great as Aron Ralston, an extreme nerd who goes through an experience just this side of crucifixion. An emotionally and physically demanding role, it gives Palo Alto’s own another acting accomplishment for his CV, albeit one that’s not especially charismatic.

   He does get to briefly frolic with two cute girls, played by Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn. Mara’s wet tanktop proves that even a guy with a crushed hand will have illicit plans for the other when presented with a view of shapely breasts pressed against wet cotton, providing one of the movie’s few funny bits.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Good 3.0

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    The estimable Danny Boyle brings his trademark cinematic panache to the proceedings, delivering a live wire story in the early going and a layered approach to the main event. You can get a sense of the first part from the trailer, which not surprisingly focuses on the set up.

    He uses Ralston’s videocam as a third eye during the main trapped section, interspersed with abundant flashbacks and dream sequences. This livens up the story and gives it depth, yet doesn’t ultimately transcend its narrow confines.

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

12. Play OK 2.5

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.2

    By the time Ralston amputates his own arm, you’re as ready to see it go as he is to lose it. Freedom, life and the need for the movie to progress all depend on losing the arm. Is it gross? Uh, huh. But I only found myself looking through my fingers for a moment or two.

17. Sex Titillating 1.6

18. Violence Brutal 3.1

19. Rudeness Salty 1.9

21. Reality

    Glib 1.1

    A quick perusal of Ralston’s Between a Rock and a Hard Place autobiography suggests that the swimming hole scene was fictional. No doubt it was added to spice up an otherwise sex appeal-free story.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.3

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0