R E V I E W S
Perfect Storm, The (2000)
Starring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, William Fichtner Director:
Wolfgang Peterson Studio: Warner Bros. Review Posted: 7.8.00 Rating: 8/10
By Stephen.
"An almost perfect film"
If there is a movie I wanted to see for over half a year, it has to be The Perfect Storm. I couldn't wait for it to come out. It finally did and I went to see it opening night. I arrived very early and it was a good thing I did because the theater got crowded fast. I thought the trailer of this movie was great. I watched it a dozen times. After sitting through the entire movie (including end credits), which ran just a bit over 2 hours, I felt a 'little' bit disappointed, which held me back from giving it 4 stars. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this movie. It had all the things a summer blockbuster requires: great action, great characters, great direction, fun and a lot more.
As you probably already know, The Perfect Storm is based on a true story. In 1991, three storms have collided to form the biggest storm in recorded history. And the Andrea Gail was headed right in the middle of the monster. In the movie, everything is true but the actual events that to the Andrea Gail happened at sea. These elements had to be created which is the only part of the movie was is fictional. But it was also the major part of the movie that seemed to drag and feel redundant. More on this later on.
Rewind to the beginning of the movie. After a day out at sea, the crew of the Andrea Gail had no luck with the fish, its load was not enough, unlike the crew of the Hannah Boden which got the fish in large quantities. Its headed by Linda Greenlaw (Mastratonio). The captain of the Andrea Gail is Billy Tyne (Clooney). His kid and wife left him and he has nothing to lose. His crew members are: Bobby Shatford (Wahlberg), who needs money to pay off a divorce lawyer, but starts to begin a new life with love Christina Cotter (Lane). There's Dale Murphy (Reilly) whose son lives with his divorced wife and needs money to pay for child care. There's Mike "Bugsy" Moran who's the loneliest of them all. The other crew member is Alfred Pierre (Payne).
Unhappy with Bob Brown (Ironside), who owns the Andrea Gail, and the money he pays them tempts the crew to go out to sea one more time to get all the fish. Of course, Bobby first objects to go out again because he wants to stay with Christina. Nevertheless, he goes onboard and out to sea is the Andrea Gail. Joining the crew is David "Sully" Sullivan (Fichtner) who wants a share of the big catch they're all going to get. After two days of catching not enough fish, the third day will give them half a million dollars worth of fish.
Directed Wolfgang Petersen amazed audiences with Air Force One in 1997. Here, he goes back into water, a territory he became familiar with in Das Boot. Direction is good and dialogue is fine, although most time spent out in the sea with the Andrea Gail became boring at times. Those scenes felt overly long and left me crouching in and out of my seat, affecting my back a lot. All the action required ILM to create huge, powerful waves. Also, a huge boat caught in the waves was created entirely in CGI. The effects were really great.
The best thing that The Perfect Storm achieved for me was creating the feel of the early 90s with Rod Steward's song "Rhythm of my Heart." Not that it was the only thing, but one of the best. Overall, I really liked this film. It was entertaining. However, the ending was not at all happy. Finally, a movie that doesn't quite sell out when it comes to the ending. It wasn't afraid to go unhappy, a point proved good in here as sure was dramatic. Let me say no more about its end, though.
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