Film Review: 127 HOURS (2010)

Co-Writer/Director: Danny Boyle
Running Time: 94 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Drama
UK Release Date: 7th January 2011

Watched at the Cinema Saturday 2nd April 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I know it’s April already and this film came out in the UK in January, but after a very long wait it has finally landed at my local cinema! Since I’ve waited such a long time to see it there was no way I was going to miss it! I even dragged a friend along who doesn’t often see this sort of thing. I’ll give you my thoughts after this very brief summary (summary haters, and those that don’t wish to know about the plot, please try to shift that rock while I write the next paragraph).

Aron Ralston is an adventurer, mountain climber, he’s most at home with almost all outdoor types of activities. He feels he doesn’t have to rely on anyone else and has cut himself off from his friends and family to concentrate on the things he likes to do. Little does he know, this is going to cost him dear in the very near future. He goes out canyoneering  alone near Moab, Utah but doesn’t take his mobile phone (or cell phone if you prefer) with him and doesn’t tell anyone where he’s going. There he meets two girls, Kristi and Megan and they have a bit of fun jumping into a pool below a crack in the rocks. Eventually they go their separate ways and Aron heads off alone again. Taking a route seldom used he causes a rock fall that leaves him trapped, pinned by the arm with a large boulder. He is there for 127 hours before he resorts to desperate measures to free himself. During this time he reflects on the mistakes he’s made in his life, making a video diary he thinks will be his legacy. I’ll leave it there so as not to upset the squeamish Spoiler Police.

I thought this was a very well made film with several devices used to keep the audience interested. Split screens, flashbacks, dream sequences all keep the thing moving along nicely. I have to say it’s an outstanding performance from James Franco as Aron Ralston, he really nailed it! Honourable mentions also go to Kate Mara as Kristi and Amber Tamblyn as Megan.

I love the visual style used by Danny Boyle in this one. It could have been a tough gritty drama like the 2003 Kevin Macdonald film Touching the Void, (also a very fine film by the way) but I found it was a lot more than that. It will make you cringe, it will make you laugh, and it will even make some of you cry, but I found it very engaging and very enthralling (even though I knew what the final outcome was)… Definitely recommended.

PS My friend thought it was good but a bit padded out with all that hallucinating & stuff (His words, not mine).

My Score: 8.6/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1542344/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/127_hours/
Official Site: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/127hours/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi768149785/

Film Review: BLACKOUT (2007)

Director: Rigoberto Castañeda
Running time: 82 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

German release date: 9th February 2008 (European Film Market)

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 5th September 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I had heard nothing about this film before it came up in the TV listings. I hadn’t even seen it on the shelves of my local DVD store. I read the write-up on the TV and it looked interesting and so I decided to watch it. Not the best film of its type, but still quite a good watch, but more of that later, here’s a brief synopsis.

Three people board an elevator in an old apartment building. It is a holiday weekend and most of the residents have gone away. The elevator rises past the ninth floor and then a power outage leaves it stuck between nine and ten. As time passes we learn about the three occupants. Karl is a surgeon; he has a young daughter and is grieving for his wife who had died tragically. Claudia is asthmatic, a student who is worried about her grandmother who has a terminal illness. Tommy, who has bruised knuckles has come from his girlfriend, Francesca’s house and is in a hurry. They do all the usual things, press the alarm button, open the doors and shout, but to no avail. We are told in flashback the events that led these three to be on this elevator and it makes for some interesting revelations, especially when we discover one particularly gruesome secret that makes one of them very dangerous. But, of course, I’m not going to give that away, so I’ll leave it here.

This is quite a tense claustrophobic drama that unfolds into an exciting thriller in the end. I like the way the back-stories of the three main characters slowly unfold, which adds to the tension. Decent performances from the entire main cast, so honourable mentions go to Amber Tamblyn as Claudia, Aidan Gillen as Karl, Armie Hammer as Tommy and Katie Stuart as Francesca.

This version has a running time of only 82 minutes which, I felt, was just right. Any longer and I think I may have got bored. As I said at the beginning, it’s not the best film of its type, but having said that, I did find it quite entertaining and pretty gruesome in places. So, it’s not one for the feint hearted, but quite an interesting film none the less. Recommended.

My score: 6.3/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0844666/