What is 127 Hours's IQ Score?

127 Hours has an IQ Score of 149/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Stimulating tier. The score breaks down to 34/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 36/50 Educational Value, and 44/50 Craft & Quality.

Is 127 Hours educational?

127 Hours is strong on Educational Value, 36/50 on TVI's rubric, which rates the density and integration of substantive information within the work.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's current published formula is round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers. TVI publishes a three-dimension breakdown only when those values reproduce the displayed composite. The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

127 Hours IQ Score 149/200

127 Hours has an IQ Score of 149/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Stimulating tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-10-05·Methodology

dramaadventurebiographicalthriller

149/ 200

Stimulating

Consistently challenges the viewer and rewards attention

Score Breakdown

Legacy score. Published under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026. A founder reviewed and approved it against our methodology, under a process that does not meet the standard we hold now. What this means →

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Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

What these dimensions mean

Cognitive Stimulation: observable narrative complexity, conceptual density, ambiguity, inference, and sustained intellectual demands in the work.
Educational Value: the density and integration of substantive academic, historical, scientific, cultural, ethical, or practical information in the work.
Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.

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Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.3.1

Formula

round((C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4)

Database scale

2,608 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. Editorial scores are not for sale. TVI may take on paid advisory or research work, but no commercial relationship buys coverage, advance access to scores, favorable treatment, or a change to a published finding. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions, and no reviewer sees sponsor data or affiliate revenue tied to a score. More about how we work →

The TVI Take

Danny Boyle's 2010 adaptation of Aron Ralston's memoir, about the canyoneer who amputated his own arm to escape a boulder in Utah's Blue John Canyon. James Franco carries the film through Boyle's compression of immobility into kinetic editing.

The structural problem of dramatizing one body alone is solved through hallucination, video diary, and audio memory.

People & Production Danny Boyle · Searchlight Pictures · United States 23 connections