R, 1 hr. 33 min.
Directed By: Danny Boyle. Release Date:
Nov 5, 2010. DVD Release
Date: Mar 1, 2011.
This was the last of 2010’s Best Picture nominees
that I hadn’t seen, and it’s been in my Netflix queue for, well, I guess forever, or that's what it feels like. Normally, I would have just gone to the Best
Picture Showcase at my local AMC, but last year, my local AMC was two hours
away, and I would have had to make the drive twice, since the new increased
number of nominees (and the limit of human endurance) have made the AMC
management split their showings down the middle. And I had to make the choice regarding WHICH of the two showings I would go to, and I hadn't seen more movies on the other showing, so I missed this one.
Unfortunately, by the time I popped this into my DVD
player, I already knew how it was going to end.
And, I’m guessing the rest of you know how it ends too, so I’m probably
going to start there. I actually
expected that fateful scene to be more… gruesome than it was. Based on what folks had told me, I was
thinking it was going to be more like Hostel. And I’ve seen episodes of House that were more explicit. I’m not complaining, because it was exactly
the right amount of gore.
I thought James Franco was pretty amazing in this
movie, but his performance here begs the question regarding what bet he lost
for his next movie to be Your Highness. I don’t really have any doubts, although this
combined with Your Highness has
taught me that he’s a really talented goofball, and one I’m hoping to see more
work from in the future.
I know that this is a true story, but I have a
complaint. It’s totally tragic, but it
was also something that could have been prevented. I feel terrible for Aaron, but at the same
time, I’m wondering why he felt that he could skip the hiking buddy. I might be reading way too much in to the tale and experiencing a massive burst of 20/20 hindsight, but I’m pretty sure going it solo is strongly
un-encouraged, and I’m wondering why such an experienced hiker would have
dodged that bullet. I wish the movie
would have addressed that a bit more… because I’m sure Aaron would have
thought, at least once during his time in that cavern, that he’d brought
someone with him. It would have been…
satisfyingly responsible.
That stupid little thing is my only
complaint. This was a really outstanding
movie and is certainly worth checking out if you haven’t seen it yet.
