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| The pretty poster for Danny Boyle's 127 Hours shows us a daredevil fumbling around in a dangerous crevice |
In 127 Hours we follow adrenaline junkie Aron Ralston, who goes on a canyoning adventure in Southeast Utah by himself, filled with the zest of immortality, until he trips down a deep crevice, where he gets stuck.
If you already know the outcome of Ralston's story, - the film is based on his novel of the ordeal, Between a Rock and a Hard Place (2004), - the film is pretty boring, because Oscar-nominated James Franco (King Cobra (2016)), who plays Ralston, just sits there in the crevice for almost the whole film. The inherently uncinematic story opens up an over-indulgent interest in watching Franco there as well as dream and hallucination scenes that aren't anywhere near as exciting as some folks claim them to be.
127 Hours is the 9th theatrical feature from great English co-writer-director-producer Danny Boyle (Trainspotting (1996)), and it might well be his worst. It does succeed with its fast-edited montages and its theme of masses as contrast to the individual. But it isn't enough to make it a good film.
127 Hours is co-written with Oscar-nominated Simon Beaufoy (Blow Dry (2001)).
Related reviews:
Danny Boyle: 28 Days Later (2002) or, Fast Zombies in England
The Beach (2000) or, Paradise Never Lasts
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 60.7 mil. $
= Box office success
[127 Hours premiered September 4 (Telluride Film Festival) and runs 93 minutes. Boyle was interested in making a film of the story for 4 years, and after Slumdog Millionaire (2008) he wanted to make a smaller film in the vein of The Wrestler. Cillian Murphy was in talks to head the film, but Franco got the part. Boyle used two cinematographers on the film so as to be able to work longer days. Filming took place from March - June 2010 in Utah. Franco has testified to the toughness of playing the part. The film is reportedly a fairly accurate account of the true story. It opened wide (916 theaters) #14 to a 2.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 18.3 mil. $ (30.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets for the film were Boyle's native UK with 12.5 mil. $ (20.6 %) and Australia with 3.5 mil. $ (5.8 %). Amazingly, the film was nominated for no less than 6 Oscars: For Best Picture, Actor (Franco), - both of which it lost to The King's Speech, - Adapted Screenplay (Beaufoy and Boyle), - lost to The Social Network, - Cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle and Enrique Chediak), - lost to Inception, - Editing, Score (A. R. Rahman) - both lost to Social Network, - and Song (If I Rise), - lost to Toy Story 3. It won none. It was also nominated for 3 Golden Globes and 9 (!) BAFTAs. 127 Hours is certified fresh at 93 % with an 8.3 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of 127 Hours?
What critical and commercial hit film/s do you dislike?
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