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Having attended a preview showing of Perfect Storm last night, here's my review--Perfect Storm is a film adaptation of the book of the same name by journalist Sebastian Junger. Junger's book is an account of a "freak" storm that developed of the New England coast in the fall of 1991 when the left-overs of a hurricane, a low pressure system and a cold front combined to produce a cyclonic storm of extraordinary size and intensity. The storm caused widespread damage to the US east coast, including damage to then president Bush's family residence on a cliff 25 feet above normal sea level in Kennebunkport, Maine.
The book is an omniscient account, based on interviews, of the experiences of Coast Guard and air National Guard rescuers, amateur sailors, commercial mariners and fisherman.
The movie necessarily focuses on the story of a Gloucester, Mass. based fishing boat, whose Captain is portrayed by George Clooney. Many of the other participants whose stories are told in the book are portrayed in the film; but the movie is principally the story of the men of swordfishing boat Andrea Gail.
If you've read the book, you know what happens to the Andrea Gail. Nevertheless, the realization of the characters, the intensity of the action and the quality of the special effects is more than good enough to hold your interest and attention. Clooney, perhaps for some, is a little squeaky-clean as the skipper of this crew. He's the heroic leader of his heroic crew. But this is not Clooney's fault; he's just being the character that the screenwriters drew. That is one of the significant respects in which the movie differs from the book. The movie portrays the fishermen, especially Clooney's character, as hopeless romantics in love with the sea and fishing. The book portrays them as people trapped in a way of living from which they can find no exit.
In a film like this, authenticity is everything. And the film succeeds pretty well at that. The boats, the men, the fisherman's bar/hangout is appropriately seedy. The women, none of whom have big parts, are a little too pretty to be believable. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (did I spell it right?) has the biggest female role as captain Linda Greenlaw. She works hard at it, but doesn't really answer the question as to how a woman could function successfully (as the real Capt. Greenlaw did) in such an male-dominated environment. The script writers don't help here by inserting a Hollywood touch -- a hint of a possible romantic interest between the two captains.
The character development of the Andrea Gail's crew comes at the expense of some of the other people, in particular, the helicopter rescue crews. We see them doing their job; but we get no sense of what motivates them to pursue a vocation that, if anything, is more insane than commercial fishing.
Finally, the film appears to have three "endings" and struggles for a dramatic resolution that the book -- being a journalistic effort -- did not require. The first of these is really kitschy and Hollywoody and detracts significantly from the film. The second is fabulous -- a reprise of the opening shots of the film of the interior of the Gloucester courthouse, with one slight -- but important -- difference. The third is just o.k., a little contrived but ok. I suspect that there was a disagreement among the principal creative players about how to end; so they compromised and did them all. "A camel is a horse designed by a committee."
This is a mature film in the original sense of the word; it probably won't appeal much to 15-year old boys and men who think like 15-year old boys. The director, Wolfgang Peterson, has already shown, in "Das Boot" and "Air Force One" that he can tell a story; and this is a story told with relentless intensity. This is not a "feel-good we just blasted the aliens out of the sky" movie; nor is it a "wow, we just barely escaped those nasty dinos" movie like Jurassic Park. It really is NOT your typical Hollywood summer-release escapist blockbuster film. It's more like what they release around Thanksgiving. So, I don't see a big boxoffice.
I would wish only for a cleaner, better ending. Perhaps the director and the screenwriters should have studied another fishing-and-storm story, "The Old Man and the Sea" (book by E. Hemingway; film with Spencer Tracy) for clues to the right ending.
Go see it anyway.
RBB --
"Still getting the wax out of my ears."
I didnt find the ending too troubling as the film at least avoided the endemic Hollywood happy ending. Along with Das Boot the most believable sea-faring story I've seen. Peterson definitely has a feel for the sea and the people who venture out upon it...joe
Thanks for the review; looking forward to seeing it. Linda Greenlaw was interviewed on NPR a few weeks ago. When asked about difficulties in working and gaining respect in such a male-dominated occupation, she said it was never an issue (except in getting her own shower room on a boat) and that the Captain of a ship was "The Captain", period. This "Stonewall" response flustered the interviewer, who was expecting a more vulnerable and detailed reply. Greenlaw and her crew became the most successful fishermen in the region. Being the Best at one's job gets respect and stifles criticism.
Not surprised at Capt. Greenlaw's response. One of the requirements for leadership is a willingness not to share one's "inner self" with those being led.I doubt that her progress as a fisherwoman and boat captain was as anywhere near as simple as that. But, I'm also not surprised that she is unwilling to share those experiences.
BTW, the score on the film from the "professional" reviewers: Wash. Post and Wash. Times: thumbs up. Joel Siegel, ABC News: thumbs down.
RBB --
"Still getting the wax out of my ears."
I read the book right after it came out. Weather is my passion. My heart sunk when I heard hollywood was going to try and make a movie out of it.I'm trying to think of something that explains how I feel about this.
It would be like if somebody finally caught the Loch Ness Monster, and it turned out to be a 5-foot kind of eel or something. A plankton feeder.
Now a bunch of people are going to go around knowing what it's like to be out there, really out there, really, really, really, out there.
"Yea like, I saw the movie. It was like, the water? gets, like, really bad? and then like, like, for about 10 minuites? it's pretty scary, yea. and like then? a big like mother wave? comes along? that looks just like the waves at Malibu! only, like bigger? oh, and the music? it's really scary? and really really loud? and a bunch of people, who are like, fishermen? only they don't have scars or muscles or look like they've ever left the tanning booth? and even though they're on this like, small boat? with fish and stuff? they like are clean-shaven, and don't have greasy hair or bloodshot eyes with a bit of jaundice from the years of hard, like, drinking? and fishguts everywhere? and like there's no crusty shit in the underware they've had on for three weeks now? because like, they must have a hot tub somewhere on this boat? and some conditioner with moisturizer and aloe? and what's really weird? like, they talk funny? like, like, like they live in LA, or something. anyway, like some of them fall in the water? whoa! it's like, wicked."
Hey, I don't know. I haven't seen the film. Das Boot was unique in it's authentic depiction of the inside of a U boat, but hey, it's the inside. How does one do the Hollywood of being on a tiny surface ship in a storm bigger and badder than anyone has ever lived thru?
How do you do that? I was on the SS United States in March of 1963, when the captiain took the northern passage across the North Atlantic from Le Harve to New York. So anyway, we're about 2 days out of Le Harve, and like, they had to empty all five swimming pools, and wouldn't let anyone out on deck, anywhere, they bolted the doors man! actually had life-lines rigged all over the ship, inside and out, because about every three minuites the entire front third of the ship is under water. UNDER water. I saw it man. Big mother ship. 1100 feet! I'm not talking about a big wave, I'm taking about UNDER WATER! I'm looking out the front windows on the prominade deck, and every three minuites, I'm in a farking submarine man! Thinking I'm hearing the screws whirling madly high and dry above my head! 1100 feet! This ain't no fishin' boat!
Thinking back on it, I can't help but sympathise with the chief of police in "JAWS!", who when he first sees the shark, rears back, and says to anyone, "We've got to get a bigger boat!? Because that's what I was thinking, between dry- heaving teaspoons of bile, something I did for the entire 5 days of the passage.
I won't go back on the ocean man. No way. I saw the SS United States on Saturday. It's rusting here in Philadelphia. The finest ship of it's kind, with engines so powerful, a design so sleek, the top speed was held secret for years. This is a big, big ship. I look at that, and try to imagine a 100 foot wave, not a Malibu wave, but one of those psychotic, pissed-off, almost-living North Atlantic mother-jumpers.
So, I'm kinda sad. It's not like Moby Dick. You can film that story. A real, living, mythical beastie. I'm just kinda sad, that some hollywood actors think they have the right to try and tell THIS story. Kinda sad.
We should put Clooney and MEM out on one of them swordfishing boats for a season, send them out in March or November. Send them way out there, without a shower or shave, or clean clothes, or even dry clothes, with fish guts everywhere, never sleeping, never dreaming, and run lines across their palms 'till the scars have scars, rip out the fingernails so many times they stop growing back, and fetch up some of those nasty hooks very deep, very fucn' deep, into the forearm at the elbow, or right up near the corner of the eye, so deep they have to be pushed thru--a bit of fish ofal remaining, deep, oh, it's deep out here, deep inside the wound, so it never really heals, just festers, off and on, oozing yellow puss, and every now and then, bits of black something, and have them puke for weeks on end, until they see the end of their gall balder, inside out, dangling from their chins...and let them make their plea to God in Heaven, make their sailor's bargain, make their membership oath into that ancient brotherhood of the cursed, the damned, every oath, until it turns to hate, and then let them hate God, reigning curses, and pacts with the Devil, and then back to weak, pathetic, plaitive pleas--"take me, Oh God, please, kill me, I can't, I can't...too sick to die, too sick to die, oh God, I'm too sick to die. and then, let them try to imagine, a storm that no man, not even the gods, can imagine.
And then let them hope, while their lungs fill with the freezing salt water, and they sink into the blackness, the sudden stillness, and their bodies grow warm as the brain begins to die, but slowly, slowly, let them hope, that they will get back to the bar, to tell the tale. And do it again.
I don't think George Clooney, can play a fisherman.
Hi,
one of my favorite writers is Farley Mowatt. His most famous book is "Never Cry Wolf"; which has the distinction of being the only book
i ever read twice in one day. Never Cry Wolf is wonderful; as was "The Boat Who wouldn't Float".
Those were about his personal experiences. Grey Seas Under was about the tugs that went out in the Atlantic during WW2 to rescue damaged Liberty ships. These ships frequently went out in weather
where they spent as much time close to vertical as they did horizontal. Excellent book. His book about his personal experiences in
WW2 i won't describe; but is very, very good.
I second the recommendation of this book. I'm surprised no one has tried to make a movie from it.
oh, don't get me started. once I get into a book, my real life ends. I need a 12-step. thanks. we'd better stop, or Rod will start a book asylum, which is where I imagine most of us belong.here's one that will make your hair fall out: "The Truth About Chernobyl" by Grigori Medvedev. I'll send it to you if you're interested. Nothing is more frightening than real life, or more unbelievable.
I am still not sure it can overcome my dislike for Clooney and his incredibly offensive "acting", but I will give it some thoughts.I didn't realize that the same guy did the Das Boat and the Air Force One. I don't even know what to make out of this at the moment. They represent completely opposing directions and since the Air Force was done later, could be considered a sign of definite decline, decadence, if it was not too simplistic. It is like a Stuka dive, 90 degrees and hell be damned, breakes stoved, and I just can't see any possible recovery there. Doing thing like that Air Force One forever tarnishes one's image (unless you are Mr. Ford) and I am really sorry to hear that. With Prokhnoff (sp?) already doing his darnest to become another one of many Hollywood plywood cutouts (while earning fine living, for sure, as one natural result of such prostitution), the last thing we needed was a talented guy doing the Air Force. Such waste.
The way it is, I am still greeatful to him for the Boat and still hope that the dive ends happily. I refuse to believe that someone with such vision can stay in the shit barrel for too long.
Perfect Storm is much closer to "Das Boot" than to AF1. In fact, "Storm" is at its best with the same kinds of "crew working against adversity" scenes that made "Das Boot." Both films convey the sense of confinement that you get in a "small" boat, a sense that is clearly missing from the other two of my favorite "sub" films: Run Silent, Run Deep and The Enemy Below. (I've spent quite a bit of time inside sailboats from 30 to 42 feet.)Jurgen Prochnow ("der alte" in "Boot") would have made a better skipper for the Andrea Gail, but there is the matter of the German accent . . . Clooney's not great; but he's ok.
RBB --
"Still getting the wax out of my ears."
I am glad to hear this. As I checked his filmography I became depressed. If "In The Line of Fire" could be considered an sexcusable offense, the "Outbreak" pretty much sealed his success as another Hollywood trash maker. Splat...Let's hope this one is not a fluke, but a beginning of a trend.
Das Boot was a world class movie and even if it would not make the list of 100 best ever, then perhaps the 200, which is a tremndous achievement considering how stiff the competition is.
...Outbreak this isnt. What a wretched movie that was. The technology alone was patently ridiculous and never mind the plot, script, casting and acting - a genuine loser all the way around.The perfect storm is probably about as anti-Hollywood as we can hope to get in the here and now from a major studio. Yes, still a bit overly romantic in some character's motivations but the gritty realism of life on the boat is a reminiscent of Das Boot at its best and the storm is indeed awesome and believable. Clooney is acceptable and the rest of the cast is even better in the context of their roles. Not your usual artificial Hollywood happy ending either. It beats the pants off Patriot, which descends into typical Hollywood soppishness and sentimentality (Mel Gibson wins the war of independence - singlehanded!). Easily the best major US studio picture of the year so far...
joe
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