Review of '127 Hours'

Reputation clearly seems to have preceded Danny Boyle at the Oscars with his ‘127 hours’ receiving four* nominations including the best actor. The film about a real life adventurer’s survival tale has been suitably humanised to avoid making it another episode of ‘Man vs Wild’.

Reality Tv and Adventure channels where the situation, however untamed, is often controlled and hence gives one the comforting knowledge that all is going to be well. The film is a departure from the stage-managed precision of these TV shows. It gets into the head of the penitent adventurer when he battles weather, fatigue and reflects upon his life’s follies as a gloomy end stares back at him from the craggy creeks.

The first half of the film gets where it is aimed at; giving the viewer the creeps, but the second half has moments of humour that are protracted a wee bit and hence let the audience heave a sigh of relief, something that has the unintended effect of driving them back into the comfort of their seats. The gory ending might be discomforting to some. The music by AR Rahman is largely on mark but some of the scenes would have been better off without music to make the setting chillingly real. Over all an outdoor adventure, that keeps the adrenalin pumping. 4.0 STARS