Based on the true story written by Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm details the drama of the Andrea Gail, a fishing boat from the small town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, that was caught in a storm of vast proportions in 1991.
It begins by setting out the characters of the crew, and the domestic backstory is strong. You get to know their hopes, problems and motivations, so that when they finally go to sea the real action plays out with individuals you actually care about. The relationships within the team on the boat are also explored. George Clooney plays the captain and Mark Wahlberg is the inexperienced fisherman with the most to lose.
On the plus side, the storm looks amazing. Whether CGI or models were used, the disaster scenario – tiny boat dwarfed by huge waves – looks completely real. On the down side, the classical music score is intrusive and self-consciously “epic” – even corny at times. That’s a shame, because wiser decisions had been made for a bar scene near the start that’s greatly enhanced by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley and Tom Waits on the jukebox. Plus, there are some ethical issues. The film made a lot of money at the box office but as far as I’m aware none of that went to the survivors’ relatives. In fact, two families of crew members sued the filmmakers over issues of accuracy. Much of the plot is conjecture anyway. No one will ever know what really happened.
All things considered, it was worth seeing. Would I watch it again? Probably not. But it did inspire me to read the book.
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