The Perfect Storm Movie
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Storyline
TAGLINES
In the Fall of 1991, the "Andrea Gail" left Gloucester, Mass. and headed for the fishing grounds of the North Atlantic. Two weeks later, an event took place that had never occurred in recorded history.
Feel Its Fury
The storm is coming.
No one was prepared for this storm
There's only love Christina, only love.
In October 1991, a confluence of weather conditions combined to form a killer storm in the North Atlantic. Caught in the storm was the sword-fishing boat Andrea Gail. Magnificent foreshadowing and anticipation fill this true-life drama while minute details of the fishing boats, their gear and the weather are juxtaposed with the sea adventure.
| William Fichtner | David 'Sully' Sullivan |
| George Clooney | Capt. Billy Tyne |
| Mark Wahlberg | Bobby Shatford |
| John C. Reilly | Dale 'Murph' Murphy |
| Diane Lane | Christina 'Chris' Cotter |
| Bob Gunton | Alexander McAnally III, Mistral Owner |
| Karen Allen | Melissa Brown |
| Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio | Linda Greenlaw |
| Allen Payne | Alfred Pierre |
| John Hawkes | Mike 'Bugsy' Moran |
| Christopher McDonald | Todd Gross, TV Meteorologist |
| Dash Mihok | Sgt. Jeremy Mitchell |
| Josh Hopkins | Capt. Daryl Ennis |
| Michael Ironside | Bob Brown |
| Cherry Jones | Edie Bailey |
| Wolfgang Petersen |
6.10 out of 10 (34391 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Wake me when it's over.
posted on 26 Aug 2009Sorry but I don't see what all the excitement is about. The movie lagged in just the first 15 minutes. Also there was nothing that made me even like any of the characters. Nothing endearing.So there was a ship and people were going out in it to catch fish and they decided to go to a bad area and there were fights between the guys and one guy almost drowned and there was a bad storm and some people died and that was it.The funeral wasn't even very moving because only one lady spoke and the rest of them cried. I borrowed the DVD from my brother-in-law so I spent no money on it which I am glad of. My husband fast forwarded thru most of it which I was glad of.The special effects were good. But I give it a 2.
The Perfect Movie
posted on 22 Aug 2009Directed by Wolfgang Peterson who has a career for making a legendary name for himself and reached into the hearts of millions of kids and adults by making "The NeverEnding Story". Petersen has also made Blockbuster films like "Air Force One", "Outbreak", "Enemy Mine."The perfect storm, based on the book by Sebastian Unger,is the true story of a group of fisherman who ,during October 1991, died in the middle of the worst storm in the century, sacrificing their lives because they were simply doing their jobs to feed their families.The movie is one of my top 50 films of all time next "The Last Picture Show" (which I reviewed) in that all the characters are real, the movie's heartpounding excitement and suspense is above anything I have ever seen, and above all the movie has an aura about that makes it special due to the heart of all the characters.The crew is made up of Billy Tyne, the captain of the Andrea Gail, Bobby Shatford ,the most popular and loved fisherman in Gloucester, Micheal "Buggsy" Maron, Dale Murphy,David "Sully" Sullivan.They knew everyone in town and everyone in town loved every one of them, especially Bobby Shatford, as the documentaries on the dvd, which has reactions from the townspeople , reveal.To take care of their families, the fisherman go to the Great banks to catch fish but they don't realize , Hurrice Grace, a raging storm is combing with 2 other storms that will completely destroy everything in it's path.What I liked about the movie is it's many message. One message is that whether it's a giant corporation or a small fishing company, there will always be a greedy jerk who will put profit above human lives.Billy Tyne's boss, Bob Brown (played by Michael Ironside), the owner of the boats they use to fish for him, is the biggest jerk you've ever seen. He doesn't care one bit about his workers or they blood and sweat they put in their jobs.Here the message is whether it's a small fishing company or a big corporation, greedy individuals like Bob Brown will always exploit his workers.Then one of the characters you'll grow to love is Christine Cotter, Bobby's girlfriend, played by the beautiful Diane Lane, who calls the fisherman who went during this storm "Heroes".Cotter doesn't necessarily want Bobby going out to sea, she has a bad feeling about the whole thing, but Bobby just can't let it go, because it's a big job, and above all Bobby loves to fish.Which is another message about the movie, how these men love going out to the sea and fishing. It's a love /hate relationship.They hate the pay they get from it, but they love the adventure of going out and doing it.The crew also has a love/hate relationship with their Captain Billy Tyne played by George Clooney who very well might have jeopardized the crew lives during this storm.See Tyne, gets a message about the storm, but instead of thinking about the safety of his crew, he kind of forces them to finish the job at all costs.All the characters have a story to them, and each characters have alot of heart.The visual effects for the movie is unprecedented, it is a very large scale production that hasn't really been done before on this magnitude.The movie was a box office hit, and received critical acclaim for all those involved inclding Clooney and Walhberg, who was sick during the filming of the movie.You also have award winning special effects by Stan Winston and ILM , the same crew who did the effects for "Terminator 2", "Jurassic Park" and many other top movies.The perfect storm is filled with many bonuses that make it a perfect buy and a perfect movie:3 Documentaries one by HBO called Creating the Storm which has interviews with Bobby Shatford's family,including Rick Shatford, the real Linda GreenLaw ,the Sword Captain of the Hannah Bohden. and former Captains of the Andrea Gail, and interviews with local fisherman who know all about the characters involved.Then there is another documentary called "Witnessing the Storm" which has actual photos from the storm in 1991, including interviews with former captains of the Andrea Gail.Then you have commentaries for the film itself including commentary by the author Sebastian Unger who recalls how afraid he was in how his book would be received,and then how good he felt when the families of the fisherman told him how good a job he did with it.As he puts it, "That was important than the books sales, the movie or anything else."Combine the visual effects, with a great story, a good cast, a legendary German director, and lots of heart and you have one of the best pictures of the year.I'd put this movie at least at #12 for the top pictures of all time, for it's tremendous heart in the characters.
Perfect Flop.
posted on 18 Aug 2009I'm not going to say much about this movie.Though it "is" based on a true story, I have doubts of how historically accurate this film is. Basically, a ship crew goes out on a journey to snag fish and get caught up in the wrath of the sea. Pretty hallow script, but that's what it is. And though there are a few impressive effects, even computer magic cannot not make up for this bad movie. As it turns out, most of the flick is all but crew members wailing to each other: "watch out, here comes another wave!"At one point, I almost fell asleep.
Oh man!
posted on 12 Aug 2009The effects here were awesome. Titanic was the film that made me not want to set foot on a boat, and The Perfect Storm confirmed it for me. I drew tenser and tenser and wanted to grab my friend who was sitting next to me!The story was pretty much non-existent, and failed to really characterize the characters, which is sad seeing as this is based on a true story. But all the actors involved, particularly Mark Wahlberg and Diane Lane rise above the material. Let's face it, the Clooney role could've been filled by anyone. But I felt sad at the last half-hour or so of the movie.See this movie for the special effects and the talented actors.
Boring wait, but has an okay payoff
posted on 08 Aug 2009The Perfect Storm: 4/10(***SPOILERS BELOW***)I like "special FX" movies, generally for one time viewing, but this just bored me. The characters were dry, the script and dialogue were thin, and it was just a case of waiting for the trip out to sea and subsequent problems. Once the problems started, the movie got pretty interesting. The FX were great, some of the waves were scary, but the boat miraculously survived until the very end of the movie. The flick seemed to build to that HUGE wave that is on the DVD cover, which signals "good night" for everyone, and kills off the entire crew mercilessly. It's not a very good movie though, I'd be reluctant to even recommend it for one time viewing.
A Ship of Fools sets Sail
posted on 06 Aug 2009(warning spoilers)There are very few things I liked about this movie. I would have hit the eject button, but I kept waiting for it to get good. It didn't.The special effects in this movie are realistic enough to cause sea sickness. There are few situations more fearsome as a major storm at sea. Which is the reason several hundred other vessels avoided the storm in the first place. Am I all alone in viewing the ill fated crew as greedy and stupid? The "Andrea Gail" was beyond the reach of the storm when the crew decided to sail into the storm in a malfunctioning fishing trawler. Not too bright.I did not care for the story or the character development. Which left me feeling nothing when they all perished. Guess they never heard of Personal Flotation Devices.This movie could have been improved by spending some of the budget on writers, rather than cast and special effects. The famous cast only had cliches and dull dialog. Or throw in a Sci-Fi twist and have U-96 surface and fire a couple torpedos into the "Andrea Gale". Almost anything would have improved this film.The heroic efforts of the unsung heroes of the U.S. Coast Guard are portrayed. I'm just sorry the Coast Guard has to risk their lives to rescue the sail boat crew.By the way, I do not intend any disrespect to the real life crew, as quite likely they were caught in the storm and did not choose to sail into harms way. We don't know what really happened to them, but this movie places them in an unflattering light.
the storm wasn't the only thing that blew about the movie
posted on 02 Aug 2009(i don't think i am giving away a secret, but just in case, i am warning you that i talk about what happens at the end)this may have not been the worst movie i have ever seen, but the fact that i had to think about if it was or not speaks volumes.with all the hype on tv about the film, i knew in advance that they guys went out and never came back, meaning that this movie wasn't much of a thriller. ok, i said, it will have good special effects and some interesting plot lines.while some of the special effect were good, others just looked too fake. most of the plot lines seemed contrived: there was the outcast who fought with one of the guys but then saves his life, the young guy in love, the 'mysterious' captain, the greedy fish seller, the couple who really were in love but couldn't stay together because he was gone. it made me almost want to puke. throw in all the "we're glosterman" mess and it was just horrible. all this time i was thinking "what a bunch of stupid yankees!" by the end of the film, you were almost thinking that the characters would be better off dead. my final criticism is that the movie was extremely loud and about 30 minutes too long.as for the good parts, i will comment the movie on its second plot line with the coast guard rescue crew. of course, even that used the contrived plot line of a hard headed man getting his two female companions into peril.i would not recommend anyone wasting good money to see this film.
Good but not great; you can't ask for much more
posted on 02 Aug 2009**GRADE: B- / 68**THE PERFECT STORM is the kind of film that couldn't have been much better, but is still not totally satisfying. You have action (sea storms, boats being destroyed, sharks), drama (deaths, tears, family affairs), romance (platonic love, a couple separated by the husband's duty). And you still leave the theater thinking that it is not a great film. Good, yes. But not something masterful or unforgettable. As a film based on a real story, THE PERFECT STORM doesn't take you to another world, but takes you to a showing of the complete fury of nature, something you had never seen before. Wow! If you want special effects, this film is for you. The scenes are so realistic that you feel you are on the storm with the fishermen. Water, water and water. Computers... What would we be without them? Well, a film like THE PERFECT STORM simply wouldn't exist. Director Wolfgang Petersen and the special effects creators should be applauded for such an amazing work as this. The audience liked and the film earned more than big hits as GLADIATOR and WHAT LIES BENEATH on its first weekend. And (what is better) lowing Mel Gibson's ego with THE PATRIOT.THE PERFECT STORM has more qualities (effective acting, a well prepared director, good tension), but has also problems. 1- The beginning is kind of slow and cliched. I know its objective is to introduce the characters, but it could have been less talkative and sentimental. 2- Some situations aren't needed. In fact, two of them: the scene where the shark attacks Whalberg and the one where John C. Reilly is pulled by the fishing line, and the guys have to save him from drowning. If the point was to show that the guys made a perfect team together, even with their differences, and they were not blamed for the disaster, it was a little stupid. 3- Despite a long introduction to develop the characters, they weren't three dimensional. I would call them "bi-dimensional characters". They change their way of thinking or their way of acting in a blink of eyes. Taking those three problems, THE PERFECT STORM is a good film. As I said, I loved the realism and the tension of the second half. George Clooney, Mark Whalberg and John C. Reilly on the sea, and Diane Lane and the families on ground help to keep the emotions vivid. Many people complained that the ending is too sentimental, but oddly I liked it. I wasn't expecting that, because I haven't read the book and didn't know the whole story. Now I recognize the courage of those fishermen, even if many details of the real story were changed to write the screenplay for a big budget Hollywood movie. (Obviously it was)The veredict: THE PERFECT STORM has its flaws, but it is a worth seeing, more for its amazing special effects than for its screenplay and character development. There were better films in this year's US summer (X-MEN, GLADIATOR) and worse (GONE IN 60 SECONDS, DINOSAUR), but good is what this movie is. Now, what would you expect from a $110 million dollars flick? An unexplained rain of frogs at the end? John C. Reilly was there too, by the way, if you get my point. Poor man!
Visual Awe Lacking Catharsis From Disaster
posted on 31 Jul 2009"The Perfect Storm" is bloated with harrowingly real visuals, thundering sound effects, and is a terrifying presentation of the huge, notorious event that occurred along the Atlantic coastline of the United States in 1991 to many unfortunate fishermen. Yet aside from giving us a taste of this catastrophe (in hopes of entertainment?), the film doesn't offer much in the conventions of screenplay or plot, and just as George Clooney, Mark Wahlburg and their crew drift into sea after giving their farewells to their family and abode, the writing is plenty more shallow than the setting, and you might even say exhibiting a "watery" core. We learn of these unfortunate men and their ambitions of "catching the mother load of all fish" consuming their judgment, and while temporarily residing in a Massachussetts seaport, they "live upon the sea", though Mark Wahlburg cannot stand to be distant from Diane Lane (perhaps he shouldn't be a fisherman). For some reason there is much emphasis on the fishermen and their relationships (as apparently these were true acquaintances) throughout the initial half-hour of the film. Is this concentration meant to build a certain compassion and understanding for the characters, thus we become emotionally involved in their plights at sea, or is this a human story meant to occur before their tragic transition and to convey the bereavements that were actually received back home from their loved ones and acquaintances. For whatever the reason, all of the emphasis on the characters is exhausted here, and little besides confrontation and occasional reflection is expressed by the fishermen, as they plunge into the wrath of the sea. When the action occurs, it certainly feels real and is meant to terrify, yet for some reason, our consideration for the characters becomes lost in the feast of visuals, and we can only anticipate that they will face inevitable doom in the scorn of "the beast of the ocean", rather than survive to tell the tale. Though it sounds impossible to imagine, the action eventually became never-ending and somewhat tedious- I was anxious for it to finally end, albeit hardly encouraging the characters' dismal fate. "The Perfect Storm" offers fantastic and laudable visuals, yet lackluster dialogue and plot (it was melodrama watching two of the fishermen "duke it out" at times). A fantastic effort, yet a complacent, somewhat unpleasant, execution. **1/2 out of ****
I was tense that's for sure
posted on 25 Jul 2009Saw this movie tonight. Wasn't sure what I would think. A bad review from a neighbor. I had read the book and liked it. I wondered how they could do it. I thought it was pretty good. I definetly had a racing heart towards the end.
I thought MarkW was very good, as was Clooney. I think the rest of the cast evened it all out. I liked the way they set up the characters and the town in the beginning. Gave a little heart and personality to the guys, although some of the lines were a bit cheesy. I liked the tone and the scenery, the mood.I especially liked the realistic fishing scenes. I liked seeing how the fish were caught, stored. Something I could not quite picture when I read the book. Lotsa good details in here, all along the way.And according to the newsreports and the book, the helicopter scenes were all real and played out just as dramatically. I thought they might have done without them just fine, but it was interesting to see how that works too.And the end. I hated the Titanic. I am not a special effects junkie. But I thought this stuff was good. Pretty realistic. Not too over the top. I gotta be honest, I was getting seasick by the end. Been on my share of boats and would not have wanted to been there. Felt like i was.The best shots-that big tanker getting thrown around.I would have ended it differently. Just maybe went out with the ocean calmly rolling, maybe an after the storm sunrise or something.7 out of 10.
Wonderfully told
posted on 09 Jul 2009Wonderfully told both visually and emotionally! I have had to deal with my fiancee leaving and being gone for a long period of time so I could very much sympathize with Chris. They did a great job of showing what all the characters were going through be it the towns people or people on the sailing boat, the coast guard and the captain for the Hannah Boaden and especially the men on the Andrea Gail. I watched many of the tv shows on the making of the movie and that added to watching the movie. It is an excellent movie to watch!
Coming from one who has read the book
posted on 05 Jul 2009In anticipation of the movie, I read the book about 2-3 months ago. In all honesty, I wasn't really sure how W. Peterson was going to pull this off. I must say that despite the fact that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie, the movie really does hold its own.Granted, the film makers took a few more liberties than Junger did not take in the book, but that is the nature of movie making I suppose. I only have one complaint, though. In the movie, the storm seemed to happen all at once and the rescues seemed to kind of blend into one another after a while. In reality, the whole ordeal was a little more spread out over time. But, I suppose, concessions must be made in order to fit the whole thing into a space of roughly two hours.Overall, I was very happy with the movie. Just don't cheat yourself by not reading the book as well.
Now This Is What A Summer Thrill Ride Should Be
posted on 03 Jul 2009Wow! That's all I can say about this film. Fantastic, amazing, spectacular are understatements. They don't do this film justice. If you already don't know this film it is about the crew of the Andrea Gail, a Massachusetts fishing boat that went out on Halloween 1991 to fish and got caught in the "Storm Of The Century". Now this isn't just a film its a ride. I was having trouble walking when I came out. There is so much swaying by the cameras and so much water your totally engulfed in the film and actual feel like your there, lost at sea. The film starts off as a drama, to develop characters and give the story some substance. But let me tell you it all stops when the storm hits. Unlike most action films where the thrills come in tons that are short in length, this film's sequence last nearly an hour of the film. There are many different area of the storm seen including a daring Coast Guard rescue. This film just hits you almost non stop and just when you thinks it's over, it's hits you hard, real hard. The Perfect Storm gets a 10. It's a film that goes out and does what it's suppose to do, get likeable characters across to the audience, have some good dialogue, and thrill the theater so much that everyone comes out feeling sea sick. This a film that *MUST* be seen in the theater for full enjoyment. The Perfect Storm is, dare I say, a perfect film.
I agree - the perfect comedy
posted on 03 Jul 2009*** SPOILERS ***Wow, I loved this movie - it was absolutely hilarous. I watched it yesterday (the original version, not the German one), and we were laughing the whole way back. I´m really wondering that, although quite a few people commented about the absurd dialogue, no one commented on the line (when the Andrea Gail was capsized and all crew members except Marky Mark and George had drowned) "We made the right decision". How absolutely stupid is this? I mean, it was like "We´re gonna die because we choose to brave the storm, but we made the right decision anyway". Laughable.The story was nonexistent. Sorry about the fishermen who died in 1991, but this movie was really, really horrible. I don´t wanna hear about this "based on a true story" - sorry, but the only real things about the original tragedy were the names of the fishermen and the boat. I mean, who knows what happened after the contact to the Andrea Gail broke? Nobody, so all after this scene is pure speculation. In my opinion, the whole "true story" was just a marketing ploy. The movie could have been MUCH MUCH better if they had taken the Twister route - take a CGI-storm and make up some story. Some good story. I didn´t care about the characters one bit, because I knew they were gonna drown. So, for example, I would have preferred it if the shark had eaten (or at least bitten the leg off) Marky Mark. I mean, when the were doing CPI on the sailor who had gone overboard, I said aloud "What´s the use? Why are they doing this?". A friend said "That´s to get the water out of the lungs." I answered "I know THAT, but I mean, why don´t they let him drown? They all die in the end, anyway.". That´s the whole problem - who cares about the characters fight for survival if you know they´re doomed? That killed all suspension for us.The CGIs were great in some parts, but some parts were looking totally computer generated - the light was all wrong.Anyway, the movie was totally funny - but I really doubt that it was meant to be.
Bottom-line, realistic cinema
posted on 03 Jul 2009Drama doesn't get much more primal than Wolfgang Petersen's "The Perfect Storm", the man-versus-nature saga of a New England swordfish boat battling a freak collision of two titanic storm systems. This description may conjure memories of the brain-dead dramatics of "Twister", but this picture delivers honest, emotional thrills with a minimum of Hollywood prettification. It helps, of course, that the events on the screen really happened.In 1991, the "Andrea Gail", a boat from the centuries-old fishing hamlet of Gloucester, Massachussetts, had fallen on hard times. Their catch was low, the crew suffering. Captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney) decided to take them out on one last run for the season, to a distant, ultra-fertile fishing ground known as the Flemish Cap. Unbeknownst to the "Andrea Gail"'s crew, however, a hurricane from Bermuda was on a collision course with a New England storm system and a Canadian cold front that meteorologists were to call "the perfect storm". And the "Andrea Gail" sailed right into it.These events, drawn from Sebastian Junger's non-fiction bestseller, are dramatized with a respectful straightforwardness by Petersen. Screenwriter Bill Wittliff does dish up some overripe dialogue ("You're sailing right into the middle of the monster!"), but the essential drama of a stubborn captain who refuses to say die in the face of insurmountable odds is right out of "Moby-Dick", and it works pretty well here, too. The melodrama is largely confined to the shore, where the sailors' wives and girlfriends are stuck awaiting news of the foundering fishing boat. A subplot involving Mark Wahlberg, one of the sailors, and his girlfriend (Diane Lane) is particularly treacly, and could have been handled more realistically to better effect. On the boat, however, the drama is rock-bottom realistic. The fisherman's bloody, dirty, difficult life is not given short shrift, and some of the film's most interesting passages feature the fishermen doing what they do best: fishing. The actors, including the amiable John C. Reilly and the gruffly charming John Hawkes, are just fine as the crew, but George Clooney is something more. This is perhaps the finest acting of his cinema career, as he nails the near-obsessive love of the sea endemic to the career sailor.
Clooney's piercing eyes and commanding voice make us believe that Billy Tyne would aim his boat into the heart of a storm just because "that's where the fish are".Of course, there are the storm scenes, and this film will likely be adorning its mantel with a visual effects Oscar come March. The visuals of destruction at sea are seamlessly convincing and really quite frightening, and John Seale's hand-held cinematography lets us feel every pitch and toss of the boat. The editing is whiplash-quick, the soundtrack roars with wind and waves, the lightning flashes, and it works.I will not reveal the fate of the "Andrea Gail" here (of course, anyone who's read the book already knows it), but "The Perfect Storm" is a fitting testament to all the working men of the world who have risked life and limb to make our lives easier or happier. And just to put it all in perfect perspective, the film is dedicated "To the ten thousand Gloucestermen who have lost their lives at sea since 1623".
Titanic II ? NOT !
posted on 25 Jun 2009If it was not for James Horner's soundtrack I could have even liked this movie. But it just kept reminding me of Titanic and I could not help but compare the two films and it was not in favor of Perfect Storm. This movie is so derivative. And it is quite superficial at that.The scene of one of the crewmen standing on the deck holding the rails with sunset lit clouds behind him was just too much. I guess if they would've made him spread his arms and scream "i'm the king of the world" they would still fail to make that scene more ridiculous that it already is.The weak attempts to introduce villains to the story looked so out of place, no amount of suspension of believe will help you. In a misguided effort to make those villain characters believable, they are not even really really bad guys, they do some good things too, which ruins the whole purpose of such character in a film like that.Pretty much the same thing happens with every other element of the film. The love story, well, there are several of them, and none of them properly developed, which was probably adequate to the fact that all those stories are plain boring simple with no intrigue, yet the director feels that he has given the viewer enough to justify some really corny scenes we see in the end.Titanic was great because it has a great love story superimposed on a very realistic disaster. Note that I did not use "realistic" with the "love story", just the disaster. Love story in Titanic was out-of-this-world fairy-tale. That fine detail is exactly what evaded the minds of the Perfect Storm creators. They pushed the concept of realism to the places which they should've left alone for the classic holywood type romance. They had such a great opportunity with the two key characters - two boat captains, imagine what a movie it could've been - sigh.But to top it all why, why James Horner did such a score. It is not that he can do only the type of music he did for Titanic. It is clearly not the case, the guy did Aliens! This was the biggest mistake. The movie has many good elements and if it was not for the music that forced me to compare two films I think I could have even enjoyed Perfect Storm.I will not rate this movie since if you manage to concentrate on the film and avoid comparisons it is quite solid film, but you are really taking a big chance here, pretty much like those fishermen did.
130 minutes of my life, gone forever.
posted on 25 Jun 2009This film baffles me. I understand the principle of Hollywood churning out woeful pictures in order to make money, but to make a film like this takes a real effort. From the bold opening declaration that 'THIS IS A TRUE STORY' (I don't think I'm ruining the film by saying that, no, it's not really), through every cliché-ridden minute, I was stunned. Sitting here now, remembering it (and I remember it unfeasibly well, far more so than many a better film), I am still somewhat staggered. How could it be so devoid of any redeeming qualities? I haven't the room to describe everything that could have been much better (everything being the operative word), and nothing pleased me.I just do not, can not understand this. There are forgettable films, there are films whose limpness is amusing, but this is so forcibly wrong that it leads me to ask: why? What is it actually for?
Not the book - to be expected.
posted on 19 Jun 2009Like "A Civil Action", this movie attempts to recreate real life crisis in just two hours. Because the nature of the events are so driven by the ravages of time, it is never possible to fully recreate the intrinsic suspense of the written word. Both books were marvels of journalistic reporting while each movie was but a shadow of each. That said, let me say that I enjoyed the "The Perfect Storm" as a movie as much for the atmosphere and attention to detail as for the special effects.I do have two misgivings however. The portrayal of the Coast Guard left much to be desired. Here we have a group of highly trained and courageous individuals who remain faceless through the entire ordeal. Faceless in the sense that we see them fifty feet wide on the screen but were we to meet any of them on the way out of the theater we would not recognize them. In my opinion, the story of the actions of the Coast Guard during that storm would make for a far more compelling and suspenseful movie.And then there is the soundtrack. If ever there was a case for less is more then this is it. It is obvious that Mr. Horner was given carte blanche when it came to the soundtrack because his music does little but intrude on the very essence of the movie - the storm. While the crew of the fishing boat fight for their lives, the sounds of the storm are quelled by the soaring strains of an otherwise innocuous soundtrack. I imagine that this is the result of too much adulation for an otherwise mediocre composer. I did not detect any plagiarism in this score - as yet. But given that his romantic theme from "Braveheart" was drawn from Holst's "The Planets" and that there was a most distinct homage to Ennio Moricone's "The Mission" in "Good Will Hunting", further listening will tell.Apart from that, I enjoyed the movie.
When the storm is the star....
posted on 17 Jun 2009When the storm is the star of the movie, it leaves you with enormous dissatisfaction, especially when you know the film cost $120 Mio. As a German I would love to compliment director Wolfgang Petersen, but he did not handle the story and characters sensitive enough to make one really get into it.Only the fact that these men on the boat existed and died in real life created sadness - the movie though left me cold. Mainly responsible for that was Petersen's biggest mistake : casting George Clooney as the lead. Clooney's character is cold closed, empty and seems to be always somewhere else. The movie showed that even when Clooney is surrounded by the charismatic Marc Wahlberg, he does not dazzle like a movie star. And this film reveals his lack of star charisma so brutally, because you do not get distracted by his pretty face but instead just have to focus on what comes out of him.
Emotionally and visually fulfilling
posted on 30 Aug 2009This film was very good, I have to say. It was emotionally and visually fulfilling, and you can connect with the characters more, because it's based on a true story. Most disaster films don't give you enough time to connect with the characters and actually feel bad when they die. Anyway, a lot of the drama takes place on land as well in the sea. George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg did a very good job as the 2 main members on the Andrea Gail, and so did the rest of the cast. The visuals were also amazing, too...I felt like I was there, going over the waves and hoping for the best. Even though you know that the boat never came back in real life, somehow you can find yourself left with that feeling that you hope they can make it back to shore, and it's not like shouting, "Oh, you're never gonna make it! Why should I feel bad?" A very good movie. 9/10