The perfect storm
Plaza Singapura @ abt 2 on 22nd of july
any comments?
Starring: George Clooney , Mark Wahlberg , Diane Lane , John C.
Reilly , Karen Allen .
Movie Info, Locations, Showtimes
Courtesy of ILM / Warner Bros.
"The Perfect Storm" didn't get its name by being nice. Rather, as
Sebastian Junger's book explained, this was "a storm that could not
possibly have been worse," a marine event with 120-mph winds, rain
so intense it drowned birds in mid-flight and waves of a size "few
people on Earth have ever seen." When meteorologists began calling
this the storm of the century, no one thought to argue.
Taken from Junger's enormously popular book (3.5 million copies in
print) about the October 1991 Atlantic juggernaut and the people
with the dreadful luck to be at sea when it struck, "The Perfect
Storm," like its namesake, overwhelms the obstacles in its
path.
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring George Clooney as the
captain of the swordfish boat Andrea Gail out of Gloucester, Mass.,
"The Perfect Storm" has noticeable problems with characterization
and dialogue. But once that awesome storm, one of the most
terrifying ever put on film, gets cranked up, it's hard to remember
what those difficulties were, let alone care too much about
them.
Elaborate watery disasters have been shot as far back as 1929's
"Noah's Ark," which created a flood so realistic it reportedly cost
the lives of several extras. But the ferocious storm sequences here
are even more unnerving thanks to modern movie technology and a
director who knows how to use it.
Even if you didn't know weather this threatening was on its way,
the pre-maelstrom segments of "The Perfect Storm" would play like
marking time, which is what they
Mark Wahlberg, left, and George Clooney are caught up in the
maelstrom.
CLAUDETTE BARIUS
are. Written by Bill Wittliff ("Legends of the Fall," the "Lonesome
Dove" miniseries), "Storm" has no choice but to depart in places
from Junger's gripping book, not always with the best
results.
Great chunks of the printed work, for instance, are filled with
fascinating but unfilmable scientific information and storm lore.
Junger also only lightly characterizes the six-man crew of the
Andrea Gail, and he doesn't speculate overly much on what happens
to them aboard ship.
But since the film is increasingly concerned with these men's
fates, screen time is spent on an understandable but largely inept
attempt to create back stories that will provide them with reasons
to go out to sea and us with reasons to care if they come back or
not.
For the Andrea Gail's Capt. Billy Tyne (Clooney), who apparently
went out to fish on that trip because fishing is what he did, the
film clumsily concocts an added incentive in the form of a
challenge to his manhood by the ship's owner, who needles Billy for
his lack of productivity until the captain snaps, "I'm gonna bring
you more fish than you ever dreamed of."
As for the Andrea Gail's crew, all of whom need the money an extra
trip to the Grand Banks fishing grounds would provide, they are
given the equivalent of cuddly stuffed animals back home. New guy
Bobby Shatford (a convincing Mark Wahlberg, who grew up scant miles
from Gloucester) has an intense relationship with Christina Cotter
(Diane Lane, effective as always). The divorced Murph (John C.
Reilly) has a small son he's devoted to. Alfred Pierre (Allen
Payne) has an inexhaustible string of girlfriends. Even the
loveless Bugsy (John Hawkes) contrives to meet a woman just before
the ship departs.
"The Perfect Storm" also provides numerous "is this trip
necessary?" premonitions from everyone from Linda Greenlaw (Mary
Elizabeth Mastrantonio), a friendly rival
George Clooney, left, Mark Wahlberg, John Hawkes, rear, and Diane
Lane enjoy the lull before "Perfect Storm."
CLAUDETTE BARIUS
captain, to Bobby's mother, who says, "The Grand Banks are no joke
in October" with a straight face. And as rushed as the men are to
get out to sea, there's still time for a completely silly "You're a
god---- sword-boat captain, is there anything better in the world?"
elegy to his profession by Capt. Billy. Aye, aye to that,
sir.
These flimsy constructs turn out to be more irritating than
necessary. We'd care about Saddam Hussein in the grip of this storm
of storms, a meeting of three independent weather systems that
causes an amazed TV meteorologist to say, in tones usually reserved
for horror and science-fiction films, "Oh my God, it's
happening."
Once the maelstrom hits, "The Perfect Storm" smartly goes back and
forth between the Andrea Gail and Capt. Billy, acting more and more
like a defiant Ahab the stronger the storm gets, and the smaller
Satori, a sloop embarked on what it innocently thought would be a
pleasure cruise to Bermuda.
The Satori's story is especially potent because it involves a Coast
Guard rescue ship and the awesome Air National Guard rescue
jumpers, remarkable individuals who voluntarily leap out of cozy
helicopters into roiling pitch-black seas to save lives. Their
exploits are the most nerve-racking "The Perfect Storm" provides
and probably deserve a film of their own.
The storm of the title is as awesome as it is, with destructive
torrents of water and waves that look as big as the Chrysler
Building, because of director Petersen's great gift (remember "Das
Boot") for physical verisimilitude, not to mention the interaction
of men in confined spaces.
Also, the film benefits from the way it combines traditional and
modern special effects. Most of the filming was done on the largest
sound-stage tank in the world, 100 feet by 95 feet and 22 feet
deep, with a full-sized ship attached to motion-inducing gimbals.
Then the genies at ILM, led by visual effects supervisor Stefen
Fangmeier, added whatever computer-generated imagery was necessary
to make things seem super-real. So real, in fact, that survivors of
the film may conclude that leaving the house in a heavy drizzle is
way too much of a risk.
MPAA rating: PG-13, for language and scenes of peril. Times
guidelines: The fatal storms are unrelieved in their terrifying
intensity.
[This message has been edited by maestro (edited 11 July
2000).]
[This message has been edited by maestro (edited 15 July
2000).]
