20th Century Fox | 2010 | 94 mins. | R
Filmmaker Danny Boyle is known for taking chances. While some have worked and others haven’t, he always brings something interesting to the table. He followed up 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire—winner of eight Academy Awards in 2009 including Best Director and Best Picture—with 2010’s 127 Hours, perhaps his most challenging work yet.
Based on Aron Ralston’s (James Franco) book Between A Rock And A Hard Place, 127 Hours chronicles the five days Ralston spent with his arm pinned underneath a boulder during a solo rock-climbing expedition gone wrong. Ralston heads out on a weekend trip to explore Utah’s potentially treacherous Bluejohn Canyon without telling anyone where he’s going. On his way there, Aron encounters a pair of lost female hikers (played by Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara, in what amount to cameos) and helps them find their way to their destination.
From then on, Ralston is on his own. Only a few minutes later a mishap results in him tumbling down a shaft and becoming trapped at the bottom when a boulder crushes his arm against a tunnel wall and becomes lodged there. Most of the rest of the film takes place in a small, contained space; a section of canyon about a yard wide. That area became Ralston’s entire world for the next five days. As he struggles to stay alive, each of his senses his heightened. The egotistical young man we see at the beginning of the film is forced stop and think about the choices he’s made in his life.
With only a dull knife, a video camera, some climbing ropes, his backpack, and a limited supply of food and water, Ralston tries everything he can to free himself. However, with his water supply dwindling, Aron realizes he may die. Boyle uses split screens, hallucinations, flashbacks, video recordings and several other camera techniques to give us a fascinating look at what Ralston was thinking and feeling. We watch his deterioration as time passes—his lips become chapped, his face gaunt, his voice growing raspier—as he says his final goodbyes to his parents and sister.
James Franco’s performance is easily his best thus far. Talking to himself throughout much of the film, does a wonderful job showing the range of emotions required. He is completely believable as a high risk nature lover and charmer. Kate Burton and Treat Williams are solid as usual in brief appearances via flashback, as Aron’s parents. But this is Franco’s show and it’s a lot to carry. He shows himself to be an astute actor.
127 Hours comes to Blu-ray with a perfect 1080p transfer. The Digicam smear of Franco’s canyon confessionals are accurate to a T, and the vast panoramas of the film’s pre-boulder- moments are clean and gorgeous. Black levels are inky and consistent throughout, compression artifacting is nonexistent, and color accuracy is boldl and perfect: Both deep hues and less saturated tones appear here with sensational quality and presence.
The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound mix here is equally good, though it doesn’t manifest the immediate punch of the video. Music and dialogue intermingle well together and surround channels are alive throughout. High-and low-ends are both handled deftly, and atmospherics and effects also come through just as it feels they should.
We get the following special features:
Audio Commentary: Director Danny Boyle, producer Christian Colson, and co-writer Simon Beaufoy deliver an informative commentary track that covers all the bases.
Deleted Scenes (1080p, 34:13): There are seven deleted scenes here, including a twenty-minute alternate ending sequence.
Search & Rescue (1080p, 14:51): A short featurette with all the real life players in Aron’s recovery, including his mom, roomate, boss, the search and rescue crew, and Aron Ralston himself.
127 Hours: An Extraordinary View (1080p, 35:30): This is a fantastic making-of documentary, taking us on-set in the studio where almost all of the stuck-in-the-canyon scenes were filmed. We get to see the interplay between Boyle and his star, James Franco, as they make key decisions—sometimes disagreeing—and discuss crucial elements of the character.
Short Film – The God of Love (1080p, 18:46): This short by NYU student Luke Matheny, about a jazz singer who becomes Cupid, won the Best Live Action Short Film award at last Sunday’s Oscars, and Fox Searchlight has included it here, even though it has nothing to do with 127 Hours.
BD-Live Exclusive – James Franco in Conversation with Theatre/Opera Director Peter Sellars (720p, 3:53): A conversation between Franco and Sellars at the Telluride Film Festival.
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