The Perfect Storm 8 of 10

Once in a while a movie comes along which probably doesn't offer much in the way of advance "need-to-see" reasons, but you go anyway, because it has been hyped more than any movie in history, and even though you really think it won't be that good, you throw reason to the wind, and sit through the thing, hoping for the best.

The last movie like that for me was Godzilla, and the aftermath was pretty much what I thought it would be going in. I was really disappointed, and I didn't care to even sit through the thing once, let alone buy it on DVD, or even sit through it when it came out on television.

That said, I have been seeing both theatrical and television ads for The Perfect Storm for what seems like forever, and really didn't know what the attraction would be. Here is a movie made from a book (by Sebastian Junger) where all the protaganists die. The viewer knows this going into the theater, and since I like to empathize with and care for well defined characters, if I know the denoument, then what is the reason why the thing was made? It can't all be special effects.

Aye, there's the rub. The ads trumpet the special effects. You even are treated to (PLOT POINT ALERT) scenes of the perilous "last wave" which overturns the boat, sending the crew to their watery deaths. The only reason I went to see this movie at all on its second weekend is because of the 43 million dollar opening the week before, when it trounced The Patriot, my favorite film so far this year, for first place in the Box Office. I figured it wouldn't hold on to its numbers if there wasn't something entertaining amongst the tragedy.

I asked people who'd seen it if it was worth the trip. There seemed to be a consensus that the "early" exposition scenes, where we are introduced to Captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney) and his crew and friends onshore, was "slow going", but when the storm hit, the combination of special effects and gymbal mounted full size fishing boat in the world's biggest water tank took your mind off the "slow moving first part" and plunged you, well, into the eye of the storm.

In fact, I want very much to award this movie a 10, but just can't, since I already awarded The Patriot a 10, and know that there must be better films to come out this year. Looking back, I think there are a few problems with the film, but overall, I found this movie very entertaining, albeit unsettling, and the special effects scenes of the storm are very very good. I kept on thinking someone was going to collide into the Posiedon Adventure, but that didn't happen.

Upon leaving the theater, my one sentence review was: This is either a movie about man's ultimate indomitability, or a movie about the stupidest bunch of men who can't seem to make a right decision to save their lives, and well, since they don't, you get my drift.

Wolfgang Petersen directed Das Boot, probably the best film ever made about men in tight places, and you can see the mastery of his craft here. His name alone is enough to lure me into the multiplex. He doesn't disappoint. This is a very well directed film, and even those "slow moving early" scenes are beautifully directed.

We meet Billy, his fellow Swordfish boat captain friend Linda (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), and the crew of the Andrea Gail, including both Mark Wahlberg and John C. Reilly from Boogie Nights, as they are unloading the anemic catch for the season. After Billy suffers through the snide remarks of the boat owner, he collects the crew for one last foray into the Grand Banks, where he wants to prove his mettle, and bring back " a bunch of fish."

In horror movies, in parts like this, the audience screams at the screen, Don't do it! From this moment on, you really want to scream that at the characters with each decision they make.

Well, as usual, I am going on and on about this movie, and not really saying much. The acting is top notch. You do believe in these mostly invented characters, although some of the script twists put them in some precarious situations. Since one of the characters doesn't have a "girl on shore" to worry about him when he is in the storm, the script conveniently provides one for him the night before the boat leaves.

Mark Wahlberg and Diane Lane are convincing as a couple who in probably any other movie would have to be torn apart as well, since they love each other too much. John C. Reilly is magnificent as usual, and his sparring with fellow sailor William Fichtner is spot on.

I must say that I really did enjoy the "early slow scenes." I felt that Petersen really gives you a sense of "place". I love the Massachusetts coast, and the aura of "men who go to the sea in ships" and have since childhood. I really felt like I was right there in that Glouscester cove. Once the storm starts brewing, the exciting water tank scenes are stomach churning. I never lost my "bearings" watching this movie. Each scene is easy to digest. In some action adventure movies, the audience is hit with so many intercuts that you don't know what you're looking at from time to time. That isn't the case here.

This is an exciting, well directed, well lit, and well acted movie. It is emotionally wrenching at times, but I would expect that of a movie where you know all the major characters are going to perish. Petersen even gives the audience a twist on their own knowledge of the disaster about ten minutes before the movie ends, but that's all I will say about it.

I am giving this movie an 8 of 10, if only because the more problematic scenes have niggled at me over the past couple of weeks before writing the review. As I mentioned, I originally was going to give it a 10.

A Baltimore Spring Creek Pictures production, in association with Radiant Productions, released by Warner Bros. Director Wolfgang Petersen. Producers Paula Weinstein, Wolfgang Petersen, Gail Katz. Executive producers Barry Levinson, Duncan Henderson. Screenplay Bill Wittliff, based on the book by Sebastian Junger. Cinematographer John Seale. Editor Richard Francis-Bruce. Costumes Erica Edell Phillips. Music James Horner. Production design William Sandell. Supervising art director Bruce Crone. Set decorator Ernie Bishop. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.