127 Hours****

The stories you may have heard of audience members fainting, gasping for air and covering their eyes with popcorn buckets and Sour Patch Kids while watching 127 Hours are all true.

It was hard to imagine how director, Danny Boyle, would follow up the Oscar winning Slumdog Millonaire. 127 Hours was not the film I expected him to take hold of, but I'm happy he did!

127 Hours, follows the true story of mountain climber Aaron Ralston (James Franco) as he takes on the isolated canyons of Canyonlands National Park. Aaron is fearless, adventurous and somewhat irresponsible in his quest to accomplish the peaks and creavouses of some very tough terrain.

At the start of his journey, Aaron meets two young lovely ladies named Megan (Amber Tamblyn) and Kristi (Kate Mara). He instantly becomes drawn to showing the girls some hidden gems of the canyons. The friendship is quick and the goodbyes are quicker as Aaron moves on, deeper into the depths of the canoyons.

During one of Aaron's descents, a boulder falls ever so precisely and crushes his arm up against one of the canyon walls. Over the course of the next five days we witness Aaron, as he tries to survive and attempt to free himself from the boulder. I'm not ruining the movie by saying that yes, Aaron survives, but only after he decapitates his own arm. So the part about covering your eyes, it will happen and probably more than once.

What could have easily been a boring film about a mountain climber who get's stuck in a canyon and cuts his arm off, which initially it is, is so much more because of Boyle's directing style. It's quick, it's interesting and his camera work is eye catching. What helps make this movie flow and keep the audiences attention, is the hallucinations that Aaron has throughout the film while he is stuck. Aaron thinks about his childhood, future and being rescued. However, as much as the hallucinations helped the film, they started to get monotonous. The suspense of Aaron cutting his arm off and the constant hallucinations, became frustrating to say the least.

Now, let's talk about James Franco. What can't this man do?! James is perfection as a mountain climber with fearless aspirations. Remember, for more then two-thirds of this film, James is alone, with little dialog. Very similar to Tom Hanks in Castaway, another Oscar nominated performance. James delivers the fear, frustration and delusion in a way that we can only imagine the real Aaron was feeling during the traumatic experience.

127 Hours is nominated for six Oscars, all of them very well deserved. James is definitely a best actor contender and A.R. Rahman should be highly considered for best score. His music works so well with this film and helps tell a story without words. A.R. Rahman accomplished this same feat with his Oscar winning score and song for Slumdog Millionaire.

I would think that 127 Hours would be one of the top two films in the adapted screenplay category. I read the book, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" which the film is based on and the film follows the book almost verbatim. Even the real Aaron said the film is almost a documentary of his experience. It would be great to say that this film has a chance at best picture, but unfortunately for me there isn't much of an ensemble cast, if any. I'm not sure if I could watch the film a second time, also a negative when it comes to best picture.

My only suggestion if you watch this film, take some deep breaths, expect the worst and think of it as sort of getting a shot in the arm. Once the gory parts are over you realize that, well, yes it is a phenomenal story, but you're happy it wasn't you.