127 Hours
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: November 5, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
37
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottNov 24, 2010
127 Hours -- just like "Slumdog Millionaire" -- is a masterful slice of four-star cinema, featuring an irresistible performance by James Franco, breathtaking cinematography, and the kind of deep, searching soul that is absent from so much of what comes out of Hollywood. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertNov 10, 2010
Is the film watchable? Yes, compulsively. Read full review
100
USA TodayClaudia PuigNov 6, 2010
Only a truly visionary filmmaker could take a story largely set in a cramped canyon and give it a sense of openness and hope. Read full review
100
New York PostLou LumenickNov 5, 2010
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 full review
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottNov 4, 2010
Mr. Boyle has a knack for tackling painful, violent or unpleasant subjects with unremitting verve and unstoppable joie de vivre. Read full review
100
ObserverRex ReedNov 3, 2010
For a story about a man who cannot move, the ordeal unfolds at a pace that keeps you breathless. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfNov 3, 2010
Paradoxically, this is not a tale about summoning inner strength, but about shedding pride. Sometimes, there's no choice. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanOct 27, 2010
A true-life adventure that turns into a one-man disaster movie - and the darker it gets, the more enthralling it becomes. Read full review
91
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallNov 24, 2010
It's gory and gut-wrenching but strangely life-affirming. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 18, 2010
127 Hours is based on Ralston's memoir, and it's a really good movie because director Danny Boyle is a genius. Read full review
90
TimeRichard CorlissNov 6, 2010
This is a survival manual turned into an existential prison-break movie; it cuts deep and, at its ecstatic climax, soars high. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 4, 2010
It's exciting, stirring, often funny, sometimes lyrical and unusually thoughtful. And, with that one egregious exception, genuinely pleasurable. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyNov 4, 2010
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 full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberOct 27, 2010
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. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovNov 18, 2010
Danny Boyle's 127 Hours is the calm, cool, and tear-your-hair-out exciting mirror image of Tony Scott's bland and formulaic "Unstoppable." Read full review
88
Washington PostAnn HornadayNov 11, 2010
Although Ralston's act of desperation is admittedly difficult to watch, viewers who might avoid the film out of squeamishness would be depriving themselves of one of the year's most exhilarating cinematic experiences. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 11, 2010
The scene appalls but doesn't offend; it's a "Worst-Case-Scenario Survival Handbook'' nightmare that resonates on the metaphysical level. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 4, 2010
Like the A.R. Rahman score that drives the movie, the triumphant 127 Hours pays fitting tribute to Aron by being thrillingly alive. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyOct 27, 2010
It's a coming-of-age story - blunt, mythic, gut-wrenching. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn LevyNov 18, 2010
Before it traps Ralston, 127 Hours gives us ample evidence of his energy, zest and boyish charm and wit. Read full review
80
EmpireDamon WiseJan 3, 2011
A surprisingly fun, effervescent against-the-odds drama that offers an upbeat moral without the usual punishing survival-story clichés. Not for the faint-hearted, mind. Read full review
80
MovielineStephanie ZacharekNov 4, 2010
But damned if Boyle, with the help of his star, doesn't make the experience almost… cheerful. Read full review
80
Village VoiceDan KoisNov 2, 2010
As Boyle's film flits from the real world-the heavy reality of a man in a canyon, pinned, near death-to the world of dreams and delusions, so Franco's performance transforms, encompassing both universes. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondOct 27, 2010
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. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirOct 27, 2010
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 full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeOct 27, 2010
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. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezNov 24, 2010
This is a deeply inspirational movie about the human spirit's refusal to give up, but it is also a portrait of a man too much in love with life to let go without a fight. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 3, 2010
This is a fascinating story of determination and survival that deserves to be told. It is ultimately uplifting but it's tough going to get to that point. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderNoel MurrayNov 11, 2010
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 full review
70
NPRElla TaylorNov 5, 2010
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. Read full review
70
SlateDana StevensNov 5, 2010
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 full review
70
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNov 5, 2010
Once Franco's on his own, everything is played across this terrific actor's deceptively goofy face. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid DenbyNov 1, 2010
The movie is best when it calms down and concentrates on the sinister peculiarities of the experience, and when it focuses on Franco's face. [8 Nov. 2010, p . 93]
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerNov 6, 2010
As a testament to positive thinking, 127 Hours will probably stand as a ringing affirmation for reckless survivalists. For those of us not so affirmed, Boyle's paean to heroism – a better title for it might have been "A Farewell to Arm" – is merely the best gross-out music video ever made. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasNov 4, 2010
Worse still, all that introspection adds up to a disappointingly shallow accumulation of regrets and life lessons, none of them surprising. After the adrenaline rush, 127 Hours turns to vapor. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyNov 11, 2010
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 full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 11, 2010
127 Hours never calms down. You suspect you're only getting half the truth of what this ordeal must've been like. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 11, 2010
127 Hours, about an unimaginably unbearable experience, is pretty much an unbearable experience of its own. And yet, it must be said, it's exceptionally well made. Read full review
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