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Perfect Storm

207.91.86.2

Posted by Bruce from DC on June 29, 2000 at 08:48:40

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."

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