Review: The Perfect Storm (2000)
Steve Kong
Review by Steve Kong
The Hard Boiled Movie Guide
http://boiledmovies.sbay.com/
I affectionately call The Perfect Storm "The Perfect Snore." It's hard to
find a movie like The Perfect Storm. It is a movie with all the makings of
a perfect movie, but somehow it fails miserably.
In October 1991, a storm like no other kicked up in the Atlantic. Trapped
in this storm is the boat Andrea Gail, onboard the ship is a crew of grubby
looking men and a million odd dollars of swordfish. It's hard to say what
bothered me about this film, since it will spoil the film, but it rests
completely on the reliability of the story.
The first half of the film deals with meeting the crew of the Andrea Gail
and the people around them. Meet captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney), Bobby
Shatford (Mark Wahlberg), Dale Murphy (John C. Reilly), David Sullivan
(William Fichtner), Bugsy Moran (John Hawkes), and Alfred Pierre (Allen
Payne). Now that you've met the crew, meet their wives, girlfriends, and
women they meet at the local pub. Got all of those characters down? Now
meet the captain of the other boat, Linda Greenland (Mary Elizabeth
Mastrantonio); the owner of the company that owns both boats, the evil Bob
Brown (Michael Ironside); a weather forecaster who seems to get too excited
by storms, Todd Gross (Christopher McDonald); the crew of a sailboat also
trapped in the storm; the crew of a Coast Guard ship out to rescue
everyone; and finally the crew of a helicopter that never seems to go down.
Now, after an hour of watching, you have all those people in mind. What
should you do? Throw out all of them, except the crew of the Andrea Gail -
the others, though used throughout the film, are mostly fluff.
The second half of the film focuses on the storm. Instead of focusing on
how the storm and the impending gloom of death are affecting the crew,
director Wolfgang Peterson focuses on "high five moments." One after
another, we get scenes in which a crewmember's life is put into danger.
But, miraculously they are saved and after this miracle, all around the
boat are high fives and cheering. After the first two, this started getting
old.
The special effects employed in the film are a mixed bag. Some are
incredible (seeing a little fishing boat crawling up the face of a
multi-storied high wave is incredible) but some are just incredulous (the
whole helicopter routine, with some funny physics to go with it, was
laughable).
On the acting front, everyone does what they can given the amount of
characters in the film - and the limited amount of lines each actor has.
Clooney, who I like a lot, is believable as the captain of the doomed ship.
Wahlberg is, well, Mark Wahlberg again. Wahlberg doesn't seem to have a
wide range of acting skills, and though he does what he does well, I'm
still not impressed with him as an actor. The other actors, well, they're
all a blur. John C. Reilly and William Fichtner are put into many more
catfights than needed. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is put into the "return
home safely dear" role. And Diane Lane, who plays Wahlberg's wife, doesn't
get more that what Mastrantonio gets.
My disappointment comes from seeing a cast and crew of such potential in
such a mediocre film. First, director Wolfgang Peterson is a
disappointment. He put together such tense and interesting films as Das
Boot and In The Line of Fire, why couldn't he have injected some of that
intenseness into this bland and tedious film? Second, although there is a
fine cast onboard, there are so many characters in the script that the duty
of each actor gets diluted. Had the film concentrated on just the crew of
the Andrea Gail and their emotional state, it would have been an intense
film. And lastly, the special effects by ILM are disappointing - with
quality wavering all over the place.
The Perfect Storm can be summed up by a laughable scene with Mark Wahlberg.
Wahlberg is floating in the sea, bobbing up and down in slow motion, he is
doing a voice-over, and superimposed on the screen with him is Diane Lane
smiling and waving. The silliness of this scene, when one sees it, is the
exclamation point to a dull film. Should you see this film? Sure, if you
have extra time, if it is a matinee showing, and most importantly, if
you've had a good night's sleep. There's nothing even close to perfect
about The Perfect Storm.
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Steve Kong rev...@boiledmovies.sbay.com
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