"127 Hours" Movie Review

Rumors and news run amok about Danny Boyle's "127 Hours" making movie goers pass out in theaters; is it visceral filmmaking or sensationalism? While it is true that the gripping arm-cutting scene has caused tremors of nausea and syncope; it's not reason alone to see or not to see "127 Hours"

The story of Aron Ralston captivated people in 2003 when he was pinned by a boulder while hiking in Blue John Canyon near Moab, Utah. Desperately isolated and dehydrated, Ralston famously severed his right arm using a dull pocket knife. Since then Ralston's bestselling autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place, has sent the climber on an inspirational speaking tour worldwide. It also landed in the hands and imagination of innovative director Danny Boyle; the filmmaker behind "Trainspotting", "The Beach", "28 Days Later", and the Oscar winning "Slumdog Millionaire".

Screening the film at the 33rd Denver Film Festival, Boyle received the Mayor's Career Achievement Award and talked with audiences at "An Afternoon with Danny Boyle". Boyle emphasized that his relationship to audiences was really all about the actors; which is an understatement with James Franco's ("Spider-man", "Pineapple Express", "Milk") performance as Ralston. Having to captivate audiences while stuck under a boulder, Franco does so much more than just carry the story. Embraced by Boyle's stylistic filmmaking and the superbly chaotic editing of Jon Harris ("Snatch", "The Descent", "Kick-Ass"), Franco evokes this moment penetrating our hearts and minds.

"127 Hours" reunites Boyle on the screenwriting end with Simon Beaufoy from "Slumdog Millionaire". He also braved the Utah landscapes with his frequent cinematography collaborator Anthony Dod Mantle. Along with Boyle receiving the Best Director Oscar for "Slumdog Millionaire", Mantle won for Best Cinematography. They also collaborated on "28 Days Later" and "Millions", but it was the canyon-like slums of India that gave Mantle the needed touch in navigating Utah's Blue John. "Slumdog..." and "127 Hours" producer Christian Colson added Jon Harris to the production of "127 Hours"; both having spelunked the tight geological spaces of 2005 Horror film, "The Descent".

Colson and Boyle also brought producer John Smithson on board, who has seen his fair share of survival stories; notably, "Touching the Void" and "I shouldn't Be Alive". Of course no Danny Boyle production would be complete without an uproarious soundtrack and additional to some spot-on song choices he brought "Slumdog..." composer A.R. Rahman into the mix.

We all know the outcome of Aron Ralston in the story, but with "127 Hours" this pivotal moment echoes across the canyon lands; reverberating a climber's worst nightmare and greatest triumph to audiences. Ralston and his family, hailing from Colorado, gave Danny Boyle complete trust in making the film and as the director said the story was handed back to him. With that trust and in capturing a genuine portrayal of a climber, "127 Hours" will resonate immensely with Colorado audiences.

Beyond that, as Ralston's book has so proved, Boyle understands there is universalism within the most intimate of moments. This theme has carried across all of Boyle's films, as well as the essence of survival against the odds. This is why Boyle's films speak loudly in a universal way, whether it's a kid in the slums of India or a climber in the canyons of Utah. Boyle saw a profound truth in Ralston's story: "...it is the place of people in your life that is more important than what you achieve outside of them."

"127 Hours" is the story of the "re-humanizing" of Aron Ralston, as Boyle said. Where reading Ralston's book we are still outsiders looking inside this story, Boyle has tapped the power of cinema to give us a tour inside the canyons of Ralston's mind.