Cast: James Franco, Clemence Poesy, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara
Genre: Drama
Rating: General
Comment: "Just like the true story it was based on, the movie has that indomitable will to live..."
Comment: "Just like the true story it was based on, the movie has that indomitable will to live..."
Based on the real-life incident of Aron Ralston, an avid outdoorsman who got entrapped in a canyon after a boulder crashed on his arm. The title is derived from the amount of days he spent examining his life and chronicles his fight for survival.
What to Expect:Review1. Tight performance by James Franco.2. An altogether claustrophobic feel to the movie.
3. Danny Boyle's penchant for realism.What NOT to Expect:1. Plenty of characters.
I purposely left out Number 4 under the "What to Expect" column (although Num. 3 is kind of a hint), because it's a bit of a spoiler. Not exactly a big secret that we should all get hush-hush about, but still it involves a pivotal point in the story, so I'd rather leave that for your own discovery.
Now, James Franco is one of the few actors with tremendous talent, yet many fail to look past his boyish, dashing good looks - no thanks to Sam Raimi's Spider-man movies. With Pineapple Express [2008], he gave us a very endearing and believable performance as a stoner, and that was for a Seth Rogen comedy movie. For a movie that is meant to motivate and elicit hope, expect nothing less than his trademark dedication to make a role as believable as it can get.
The reason why I made it a point to talk about James Franco is no doubt because this movie rests heavily upon his shoulders alone.
Aside from that, I have little to say about the movie other than it will invite you to examine your own life; and if you ever find yourself caught in the same predicament, will you ever find it in you the kind of will to survive seen only in movies? Well, this movie is pretty much a glorified documentary of the real event, so chew on that.
I give this movie an A, with its only flaw being a rather slow paced movie.
