127 hours

Nothing is more powerful than the will to live. This is what 127 hours is about. It is a survival tale of a man trapped in an isolated canyon in Utah when a rock fell and crushed his arm against the boulder walls and who ultimately made it out 6 days later with sheer determination. 127 hours marks another remarkable feat by Academy Award Winner director Danny Boyle, best known for his 2008 critically acclaimed heavyweight Slumdog Millionaire.

The film takes off at a dizzying fast pace with random montages of spectators in large sporting events, people hustling and bustling in their lives, leaky faucets, the film's protagonist Aron Ralston (played to pitch perfection by James Franco) packing in a haste and others in a split screen which initially struck out as erratic but are anything but random as they fall into pieces towards the end. The film wastes no time in diving straight to the plot as twenty minutes into the movie, the action begins when paradoxically Aron becomes entrapped.

The next 127 hours (remaining 74 minutes of screen time) chronicles his deteriorating physical conditions and psyche ranging from denial (this is insane), frustration, longing, acceptance and finally the surge of willpower after having a premonition which prompted him to make the hardest decision he's ever made that led to his survival. Like any good piece of cinematic art, the performance of the actors are central to the integrity of the film. And here, James Franco delivers the most riveting performance of his career that solidified him as an immensely talented and serious actor in Hollywood. The film is essentially a one man show with the supporting cast appearing in early parts of the movie and in his flashbacks but we never get bored with Franco. Every facial expression showed his defeat and waning exhaustion with genuine emotions while his resourcefulness and self parodying moments are huge likability factors. However, it is his epiphanies through the life and death situation in which he came to recall what is important in his life that truly made a connection.

The clever uses of Boyle's signature psychedelic flashbacks and hallucinations are brilliantly interwoven into and seamlessly edited in the film which provided an in-depth character development as well as heightened our senses on Aron's desires. The multiple camera angles are explored and utilized in every possible way to fully capture Aron's predicament yet not make the audience feel claustrophobic although shot in a very narrow and contained space. The cinematography is visually stunning as we get landscape and aerial views of the canyons in its full glory. Its amazing how nature can make us feel so miniscule while we enthrall in its beauty. The CGI effects are outstanding at the torrential storm scene but most importantly, the epic score by A.R Rahman stole the show for me. The dark and urgent pounding of tribal beats and the pull of a string instrument when Aron struck a nerve (literally) is most effective but it is the spiritually uplifting music at the end of the movie when Aron is rescued that conveys the gratuitous feelings of being alive in all of us.

127 hours is extremely emotional, captivating, spectacular, stylistic and story telling at its best. It is a not to be missed movie of the year that stands out above the rest and is in a class of its own. Rating 10/10

Quote

"You know, I've been thinking. Everything is... just comes together. It's me. I chose this. I chose all this. This rock... this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. It's entire life, ever since it was a bit of meteorite a million, billion years ago. In space. It's been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I've been moving towards it my entire life. The minute I was born, every breath that I've taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the out surface" 

The Tourist

Not bad but not great either

Being a die hard fan of Johnny Depp, I could barely contain my excitement when I walked into the theater to catch The Tourist despite knowing the film was thrashed by critics. The appeal of the first time screen collaboration of two of the world's biggest A-list stars (their combined mega wattage could light an entire city) was too hard to pass on.

The Tourist is classified as action, drama, thriller, comedy and romance. Many movies have found success with the fusion of genres but in this case, it seems like an unnecessary hodgepodge that rendered the underdevelopment of the movie itself. Although not a major downfall, but it left me feeling there is more to be desired. The plot of the movie is straightforward although there are many loopholes that could have crippled the movie in itself but are often overlooked in the beautiful scenery (excellent cinematography) and in the face of its stars. In fact, the supposedly clever twist at the end is cliched and makes no sense in the play out of the story. At 103 minutes, it is not a long movie. It moves at a pace that is neither too fast nor too slow and is a good ride into the journey.

Angelina Jolie is certainly ravishing (or ravenous :p) but there are just way too many scenes of her walking into a room in slow motion where all heads turned to look at her as though she was in a perfume commercial. The nauseating, eye-rolling inducing overemphasis on her ethereal beauty made her surreal and hence difficult to relate to, not to mention did nothing to building her character. I suspect director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck created those scenes in hopes that the audience would be so spellbound by her beauty and not notice the contrived acting and dialogue.

Johnny Depp is without doubt, one of the most sought after and versatile actors in Hollywood known for his quirky roles but in The Tourist, he looked dull (how is this even possible) and somewhat downplayed, despite being one of the two leads. His character injected most of the much needed comic relief in the movie and maybe it was just me, but there were traces of Captain Jack Sparrow in the funny scenes. I have to admit, I was surprised he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in the movie because although charming and absolutely lovable as he always is, it was not an award worthy performance.

The biggest problem of the movie is perhaps these two megastars cannot share the limelight together. Putting Jolie and Depp in a movie together sounded like a genius plan hatched but instead of turning the movie into a golden goose, the film suffered at its own advertising of their stars. Both Jolie and Depp are extremely strong characters that can carry a movie on their own but together, it was a train wreck. It felt awkward watching them kiss. It almost felt incestuous. There is more chemistry between two rocks than between Jolie and Depp. One friend commented that Jolie never had chemistry with her co-stars but I pointed out her excellent chemistry with Brad Pitt in Mr and Mrs. Smith and my friend reminded me of what came out of the movie (poor Jen, I am still on her team) but I digress.

The Tourist does not attempt to set itself apart from mainstream movies nor claim to be an intelligent movie. It does however, boast two of the world's biggest stars (you would not want to miss it if you are fans of Jolie and/or Depp), great supporting cast, breathtaking scenery (European tourism is set to boost after this) and simple, mindless fun. It is not as bad as people say, there were plenty of laughs in the cinema. Go watch with no expectations and you might be rewarded. Besides, there are far worse things to do on Saturday night. Rating 6/10