127 Hours: I’m Too Lazy To Put This On My Top Ten

Believe me, if I had the patience, 127 Hours would be near the tippy top on my top ten list for 2010 but if you guys knew how long it takes me to change each of three three lists you would understand. Just because I am not putting this on my list doesn’t mean it isn’t an emotionally rich, heartbreaking, and  inspiring film. It is. And if you are looking for a film that has an absolutely brilliant, leading-man performance, 127 Hours is without a doubt the film to see.

With the director of the great film, Slumdog Millionaire, at the helm of this shockingly true story you know you are going to get something very interesting. And you do. As you probably know the film is about Aron Ralston who, while hiking, gets his arm stuck between a boulder and a rock wall. The whole film consists Ralston attempting to escape as well as his realization that he hasn’t spent enough time with his family. This could have been a rather boring film but director Danny Boyle finds ways to spice it up by creating interesting dream sequences. For example before getting stuck between a rock and a hard place, Ralston meets up with two girls, played by Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn, who invite him to a party. That night, when stuck in the rock opening, Ralston imagines himself being at the party, in particular seeing an inflatable Scooby Doo which the girls said would be there.

Boyle also does a great job with the cinematography as well as showing different sequences in Ralston’s past. What makes the scenes interesting is that they are not long at all. They are not even scenes but more so little images of Ralston as a child and teenager, living with his family. The majority of the film is just Ralston stuck in that little opening in the grand canyon and I appreciate that.

Now I will get to the most important part: James Franco’s performance. This is one of those films where if the main actor doesn’t do great, the film will fail. This is different from The King’s Speech in which there were three main parts so the film still would have been decent if one of their performances wasn’t as good as the others. In 127 Hours if James Franco wasn’t all into it, this film would have been terrible. Luckily, James Franco’s performance is beyond great. In fact, I feel that it is one of the best performances given by any actor in 2010. There’s a part of me that feels that James Franco just might sneak right under everyone’s noses and win the Academy Awards for best actor. I really hope this is going to happen but that is very unlikely. Colin Firth has won just about every single award possible for best actor so it’s most likely that he will end up winning.

This is a great movie that you need to see immediately. Yes, there is an amputation scene that will put some people off but that is just a miniscule part of the film. You must see this movie! A+