A film that starts off as part survival adventure, part Nicholas Sparks love story. At first I began to question why they made the choice to inter cut between the present and then the past...how they met, fell in love and ultimately accepted an offer to sail a boat from Tahiti to San Diego. But then near the end, it all comes together and if it wasn't hard enough watching the movie, fearing the worse for Richard, then the one small twist just destroyed me, left in puddles.
After Spielberg finished Jaws, he told anyone that would listen, to never film on the open sea, ever. The elements, the waves, the weather and everything in between basically cause chaos. Director Baltasar Kormakur did not take heed to that warning and the result is something magical. To get the feeling of complete isolation, the cast and crew would sail out 2 hours from land to film. Kormakur is an experienced sailor and I'm sure that came in handy during filming. Half of the movie takes place on the open water and slowly but surely you see the two characters start to fade. They haven't given up hope but they are 1500 miles from land, have little food and little water. How Tammy and Richard survived 41 days on their own is a miracle. Tammy had to do it all. Take care of Richard, keep the boat afloat, catch food, make shelters and so on. There were times when she was in tears and close to going crazy, but she kept going, incredibly reaching Hawaii. She was not the experienced sailor, that was Richard. That makes it all the more incredible.
There's one big plot twist and I will not reveal that here. If you know nothing about the story, keep it that way. Go in blind. It'll work so much better for you.
Shaileen owns the movie. She's simply a rock. Her range of emotions are incredible and she has to carry the film most of the way. Claflin is good too but Woodley has much more to do. I simply love her performance and I really hope she gets a nomination this year. She's simply brilliant.
I loved the movie.
9/10
After Spielberg finished Jaws, he told anyone that would listen, to never film on the open sea, ever. The elements, the waves, the weather and everything in between basically cause chaos. Director Baltasar Kormakur did not take heed to that warning and the result is something magical. To get the feeling of complete isolation, the cast and crew would sail out 2 hours from land to film. Kormakur is an experienced sailor and I'm sure that came in handy during filming. Half of the movie takes place on the open water and slowly but surely you see the two characters start to fade. They haven't given up hope but they are 1500 miles from land, have little food and little water. How Tammy and Richard survived 41 days on their own is a miracle. Tammy had to do it all. Take care of Richard, keep the boat afloat, catch food, make shelters and so on. There were times when she was in tears and close to going crazy, but she kept going, incredibly reaching Hawaii. She was not the experienced sailor, that was Richard. That makes it all the more incredible.
There's one big plot twist and I will not reveal that here. If you know nothing about the story, keep it that way. Go in blind. It'll work so much better for you.
Shaileen owns the movie. She's simply a rock. Her range of emotions are incredible and she has to carry the film most of the way. Claflin is good too but Woodley has much more to do. I simply love her performance and I really hope she gets a nomination this year. She's simply brilliant.
I loved the movie.
9/10