Review of 127 Hours (2010) by Aaron W — 13 Feb 2013

The film got literally stuck in the crevice... in shy shorts...

That said, this is really good method-ish acting. However it was not long enough (felt like a day and a half not 5 days), and there was no parallel action (even though there were opportunities for it).

As I was told at film school, if you show a knife in the opening scene someone is going to get stabbed. Well, we met these two girls and then... nothing. Never saw them again. That's just wrong, especially as we find out he did meet them again on the bonuses, and that could have wrapped up the film in a more interesting way. A lot of missed opportunities because the film just gets literally stuck in the crevice. In trying to tread the line between fact and fiction, it was a little half-hearted in places. For example a big deal is made of the fact he does not take his Swiss Army knife, yet it hardly would have helped. He was not short of whetstones. I think the direction lacked a mission, and the script lacked proper thought regarding the maguffins (the knife, the girls, the phone call, the Christmas present - none of these were properly tied off for me).

The power of this film which would not exist without its outstanding performance, is not the trite question "what would you do?" or "could I do that?". This story shows us something much deeper than that. It shows us that we, he, there is no difference. The situation is what makes him go beyond the limits of normal ability, and what that actually does is reassure us, as we ride shotgun with him, that we too not only could, but would do the same. And that gives an insight into a connectedness of our shared humanity that moves into realms beyond the personal, and beyond the person, so that when he does the inevitable we not only wonder about how we would do it, but our real horror is from knowing that we would.

And on a personal note: If you're going to have a sexy actor climbing around DON'T dress him in those ridiculous SHY SHORTS! What a wasted opportunity for my eyes! We're not all heterosexual males and some of us want to see men's bodies! Sure showed plenty of seductive shots of the girls. Think of the whole audience.