I just finished Aron Ralston’s book last night. One of the rare books you cant put down as I found a 3am. I thought it would be best to read it before seeing the film. Is the film any good?

watched the film tuesday night, i enjoyed it, considering you know the ending and very little happens… its surprisingly gripping 😀

I remember reading reports when it happened, but the story from Ralston’s hand (excuse the pun) is compelling.

Watched the film on the plane a few weeks back.

Wasn’t expeting a lot but I found it surprisingly good and was gripped all the way through. Almost shed a little tear at the end too (but am a big softy anyway)

Yeah same here, enjoyed the film, especially having ridden over in Moab the landscapes are great to see and as others have said it’s well put together seeing as it has minimal cast. My gf didn’t enjoy as much but didn’t hate it.

I’d like to see the film. Read the book recently and, like the OP, couldn’t put it down, really gripping read.

enjoyed both book and film. my young lads liked 127 hours so we watched Touching the Void last night 😯

What philconsequencincale said. (Apart from the tuesday bit)

A review I read virtually compels me to see it – although I haven’t yet.

Seems Danny Boyle has managed to see in, and convey through, the potentially pornographic event of someone cutting their own arm off, a good deal of meaning and inspiration.

Sounds good to me.

Movie follows the book quite closely. In fact the movie will make a lot more sense if you’ve read the book beforehand. Little things like when he watches planes overhead – a small bit in the movie that most people will not notice, but he describes the feelings etc in the book in more depth.

Doesn’t sound like something I want to see or read.

I’ve read the book and my overwhelming thought the whole way through was… What a muppet. He consistently puts himself into dangerous situations alone without ever letting anyone know where he is going or when he is going to be back. He pretty much ignores most common sense safety guidelines for anyone doing any type of outdoor activities and was lucky to escape with his life on more than one occasion before the chopping off his hand incident.

I think they should rename the book/film. “What not to do.”

one of the main things i took from the film was a sense of “i’m an idiot and i regret being such an idiot and i cant believe it took me being in this situation to realise how much of an idiot i am” from the main character…

what philconsequeinciales said. (Except for the “main thing” bit) 🙂

I have neither seen it nor read the book, so can’t really comment on whether or not the guy was a muppet. In fact, I assumed he was from the premise. Having read this, however, I thought maybe he could be redeemed.

The film’s boring as hell and too similar to Slumdog in terms of style

From what I know of the guy he was a complete muppet and it took that near death experience to make him realise how much of a muppet he was, and he now admits it.

Btw Joe Simpson is/was also apparently a total git and completely slapdash about safety.

The film’s boring as hell and too similar to Slumdog in terms of style

Oh yeah, that’s what I meant.

The big dance scene at the end was particularly similar.

I must say, the film was starting to drag a bit for me…which is odd given that it’s only around 90mins long. It’s ok, but it’s not great.

i fell asleep watching it.
i think i know what happened in the end anyway.

Started the book and binned it after hundred pages or so. Dull as dishwater.

“He consistently puts himself into dangerous situations alone without ever letting anyone know where he is “

It’s called “adventure”. It’s quite liberating in my experience.

He consistently puts himself into dangerous situations…

I got the feeling throughout the book he was an accident waiting to happen. Indeed on one trip he led a couple of friends into a near death avalanche without taking time to analyse the risk. His friends never spoke to him again. I know someone in Bend who knew him before the accident. She said he was an egotistical liabilty.

It was ironic that the incident that caught him out was caused by the most benign of moves.

I recently read Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire which was based around the Arches National Park. The Utah canyonlands sound awesome on paper, I’ll check out the film and maybe try a make a trip out there sometime.

I can heartily recommend Arches. It is breathtaking. Get there early and get a campsite there. And, of course, fantastic biking round abouts (nearest town is Moab.

It’s called “adventure”. It’s quite liberating in my experience.

I’ve no problem with adventure. I’m quite partial to it myself. But being prepared does not take away from the adventure. Going into avalanche territory alone (or taking others in there), without any safety equipment, no way of alerting emergency services and no way of searching for those who may get buried is not adventure. It’s stupid. There are many incidents in the book where I have no problem with what he did, it’s how he did it with total disregard for basic safety that makes him a muppet.