127 Hours 2010

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: 127 Hours becomes the one-man Franco show, and the actor gives a tour-de-force performance. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Directed and co-written by Danny Boyle in a style that travels from ecstatic to nerve-wracking and back, this is a film about perseverance, strength and the importance of always letting people know where you're going. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: 127 Hours may be occasionally overdirected, but it's never under-felt... and more importantly, Franco's work goes a long way toward making Ralston's story live. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: To say that this movie gets under your skin is only barely a figure of speech. It pins you down, shakes you up and leaves you glad to be alive. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: It's a crazy stunt of a movie, the kind of dare that only Oscar-winners get to blow their goodwill on. And still, Boyle might have bested himself again. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Mr. Franco is simply terrific, and Mr. Boyle's trademark exuberance creates a dizzying succession of images that get the movie not only out of the canyon but into its hero's mind. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: [It] will blow you away -- for its audacity; for James Franco's performance; for the way that, by the end, it leaves you feeling connected to the strangers sitting next to you, and happier to be part of humankind. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: The setting may seem constricting, but Boyle captures the intensity of Ralston's experience in a swift, agonizing, defiantly cinematic 90 minutes. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's an incredible performance by Franco, walking the line between what once was enthusiasm but now is manic desperation. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: How do you make a movie about immobility? For a hyperactive stylist like Boyle, whose movies are at best thrillingly kinetic and at worst represent death by a thousand cuts, the solution turns out to be absurdly simple. He heads inward. Read more

Noel Murray, Chicago Reader: Aside from an exhilarating opening and a gruesome climax, the movie isn't all that rich emotionally; all the visual razzle-dazzle winds up serving a pat lesson about people needing other people. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Franco is a remarkably engaging actor - a prerequisite here - but Boyle, understandably, tricks up his predicament with a slew of Ralston's imaginings and fantasies and swaddles everything in a throbbing synthopop score. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The latest from Danny Boyle is actually an ode to survival, a bracing story of man and nature and an exhilarating sensory experience. It's my favorite movie so far this year. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: In his impressive follow-up to Slumdog Millionaire, the Academy Award-winning director honors the lure of solitude while at the same time celebrating the beautiful necessity of other people. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: 127 Hours offers a daunting challenge to a filmmaker: How do you rivet an audience when your protagonist can't even move? The answer is that there's an awesome freedom to Danny Boyle's filmmaking. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: Sleek and stylish, harrowing yet heartening, Danny Boyle and James Franco bring their best picture to the big screen. Read more

Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter: Boyle is such a gifted director that he overcomes the obstacles and might even match the commercial success of his earlier Oscar winner. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: In the end, "127 Hours" is one man's incredible, unforgettable journey; it took the extraordinary alchemy of Boyle and Franco to also make it ours. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Boyle has always been an exceptionally stylish director, and, despite its limited setting, 127 Hours is a marvel of visual eye candy. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Boyle's style is never less than energizing, as it manages to keep this incredibly cramped space interesting. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: As Franco goes from fearful to resigned to resentful of the spot he's in, we're absolutely hooked. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Like all great movies, "127 Hours" takes us on a memorable journey. Which is not easy when 90 percent of the movie takes place with a virtually immobile hero in a very cramped setting. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Fraught with tension, yet never claustrophobic, 127 Hours is a phenomenal piece of work in which a fine actor and an innovatively cinematic director join forces to keep you gasping for oxygen all the way. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: It's a coming-of-age story -- blunt, mythic, gut-wrenching. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: 127 Hours is unflinching in its depiction of what constitutes the "will to live." Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Gripping, thrilling, excruciating, inspirational. One of the best movies of the year. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: From such harrowing beginnings, it's rather awesome what an entertaining film Danny Boyle has made with "127 Hours." Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Danny Boyle pumps every frame of 127 Hours with cinematic adrenaline that declares war on the dull gravity of docudrama. And James Franco does the best, most natural and nuanced acting of his career to date, lacing terror with bracing humor. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Franco is up to every bit of Boyle's challenge, capturing Aron's transition from clownish outdoorsman and party boy to an introspective chronicler of his own impending demise and a visionary lunatic. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "127 Hours," about an unimaginably unbearable experience, is pretty much an unbearable experience of its own. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Boyle's skill at wringing physical and emotional reactions from his audience is impressive; watching 127 Hours is, as intended, an experience of grueling intensity. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The nightmare becomes a tribute to Ralston's bravery -- without casting him as a hero. He just got tired of waiting to die and decided to live. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Boyle is such a gifted filmmaker that, in his hands, 127 Hours is genuinely -- and unsentimentally -- inspirational. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Shiver-making moments aside, in a important way 127 Hours suffers from the filmmaker's lack of nerve, a reluctance to let the audience taste Ralston's dread and the expectation of a slow, absurd death. Read more

Gayle MacDonald, Globe and Mail: Boyle turns the near-death tale into a riveting re-enactment that will keep audiences squirming in their seats. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: At the end, we stagger like Ralston from the dark into the light. We might have both our arms left, but our nerves are just as terrorised. Read more

David Thomson, The New Republic: Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: [Franco's] take on Ralston feels both credible and compelling; few actors could have made us care so much, or disappeared so completely into the role. Read more

Dan Kois, Village Voice: A passionate, bloody argument for engagement with the world. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: It's a movie worth seeing, even when it's barely watchable. Read more