127 Hours

Variety by

While Franco can sometimes be a wild card, getting increasingly self-conscious with recent roles, his take on Ralston feels both credible and compelling; few actors could have made us care so much, or disappeared so completely into the role.

Salon by Andrew O'Hehir

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey

It's a coming-of-age story - blunt, mythic, gut-wrenching.

NPR by Ella Taylor

Even by my super-wimp standards, Aron's exit is surprisingly coy, coming from a filmmaker who gets his kicks from goosing the hell out of his audiences.

New York Post by Lou Lumenick

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.

Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman

A true-life adventure that turns into a one-man disaster movie - and the darker it gets, the more enthralling it becomes.

Boxoffice Magazine by Pete Hammond

With a tour-de-force performance from James Franco and an imaginative shooting style that relies on two cameras and inventive angles, what could have been static and deadly dull comes blazingly to life in this powerful and compelling story of one man's will to survive.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

Is the film watchable? Yes, compulsively.

Movieline by Stephanie Zacharek

But damned if Boyle, with the help of his star, doesn't make the experience almost… cheerful.

The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Farber

All of the key creative personnel contribute to the movie's nail-biting tension and unexpectedly moving finale. Jon Harris's editing is matchless, and Rahman's score effectively heightens the emotion. Ultimately, however, it is the talents of Boyle and Franco that sock this movie home.