Abandoned (VI) (2015) User Reviews

Weirdly uneven, yet mostly watchable.

[kitellis-98121 · 6/10 · 12 July 2018]

It's hard to quantify this odd little film.

Based on a true story, it is somewhat interesting yet ultimately unsatisfying; moderately thrilling, yet strangely dull; occasionally uplifting yet mostly depressing.

The most consistent thing about it is how inconsistent it is.

For the majority of the scenes at sea I despised each of the men and hoped that they would die horribly, yet when they reached land and were welcomed with such contempt and hostility by the media and the public I found myself rooting for them and hoping for their vindication.

In essence I think I would have to describe this film as a maddeningly uneven depiction of a maddeningly unlikely true story about a maddeningly unlikable quartet of men. How close to the truth it really is will never be known, and that is perhaps the most maddening thing of all.

Frustrating in many respects, yet worth a watch if you're in the right mood.

Ok

[LaverneandShirleysucks · 7/10 · 24 February 2022]

It was a good movie but they were lost at sea in an overturned boat for 4 months and the chubby guy never lost weight and his crew cut hair stayed the same short length the whole time lol. It was so distracting because I kept wondering how he's giving himself buzz cuts and why on earth it was even a priority to give himself crew cuts during this 4 month life threatening situation. Other than that, it was a good movie.

Enjoyable True Story

[brutzel · 7/10 · 1 August 2016]

This is based upon a true story

In 1989 four men set sail from Picton, NZ to Tonga in a Trimaran Yacht (google it) when a Rogue Wave capsizes the boat upside down and 119 days later they land on the Great Barrier Island.

We have heard of Rogue Agents in spy movies, but a Rogue Wave? Actually, there is such a thing and it can also actually endanger large ships. (You googled it, right?)

Of the 4-men on board only one, the owner of the boat, John (Peter Feeney) was a seasoned sailor and everything he owned was tied up into the boat called the Rose Noelle. The others Jim (Dominic Purcell), Rick (Owen Black), and Phil (Greg Johnson) were along for the adventure and had family who learned later there was no hope of a rescue as no search party could locate them. John had no family and the boat was all that he had.

Of course, there were bumps along the way and they had to learn to work together to survive. The most important item a licensed marine radio was not on board as John didn't want to endure the expense, and, of course, this set the others against him in a heart beat.

The photography was sensational as was the acting by all. Nothing was overdone. They learned how to capture fish and Phil remarked that they had so much food, they should have others over and this brought on a few chuckles.

At one point they spied a sailing ship in the distance and tried to send smoke signals, which didn't work. I wondered why they didn't use mirrors glinting off the sun that would be seen even at a great distance. Why indeed?

At the end, when they told their story government officials did not believe them nor did the New Zealand populace for the most part. How could they survive 119 days without anyone seeing them? It wasn't possible they said. The government launched an investigation.

Over all this was a very enjoyable true story. Watch to the end to see what happened to all of them. John, who lost everything probably wrote the story that became this movie.

If there is a lesson to be learned it is: make sure there is a good marine radio on board should you venture out onto the high seas. You just never know. (7/10)

Violence: Not really. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Some in the beginning, then it went away.

None of them looks like being lost in the sea for 119 days ...

[marciama · 13 July 2016]

It's not a bad movie, the only problem is that none of them looks like being lost in the sea for 119 days. I'll take that as a production error, for instance, movies like Cast Away, Life of Pi, ... actors would gradually "look" like they've been lost in the sea for that long (skinny, tanned, sun burned, dehydrated, messy long hairs, dirty, torn clothes, ... etc..). But in the movie "Abandoned", actors look about the same from the beginning to the end (check Dominic Purcell's hair ...). Also, most of these types of movies, it will either emphasize the scientific/technical parts, or the mental/spiritual aspects of human, but this movie just very lightly grazed through any of it, and it's a movie that leaves no impact, no thoughts after.

Acting was...

[jjsoltis · 6/10 · 6 April 2021]

Substandard. Almost detracted from the story. Seems like the story was told from one persons point of view.

A watchable movie

[gsaxon · 7/10 · 17 January 2021]

This is not the kind of movie I would see twice, however, it was interesting enough for me to watch it to the end. It was uneven at times, but because it is based on a true life adventure and probably a book, I guess that was inevitable. It had alot of character study of the four crewmen and made me involved enough to ask myself what would I do with each of these characters if I was a crewmember on that capsized trimaran. So it was a worthwhile movie to watch.

called stranded on amazon

[allanmichael30 · 6/10 · 17 April 2019]

I really felt sory for the albatrose, was quite dull but ending was better, was a true story

Uninspired

[shinjots-213-434104 · 4/10 · 30 November 2019]

It's amazing they were able to turn what, on paper, is a truly epic and harrowing tale into something so bland, one-dimensional, and utterly anticlimactic. Usually movies are able to dramatize and add a level of excitement beyond the real life events that inspired them. This movie somehow managed to do the opposite. I honestly didn't think that was possible.

Sailing movie about capsized trimaran & crew

[billstrosberg · 8/10 · 16 September 2015]

Made for TV movie (true story) about a capsized trimaran yacht and how it's crew survived for over 100 days. Well done and reasonably accurate about the sailing offshore in a performance multi-hull. Unlike most disaster / redemption films this one obviously was done by people who knew their topic.

I enjoyed this film as unlike most it made me feel they did not dumb down the content assuming everyone watching could not truly understand the situation. As a sailor I found this film quite realistic.

I feel the actors did a good job of representing the people in the crisis and they avoided overacting with restraint.

I'd heard about this situation and the controversy, so seeing the film added a lot of context to news from the other side of the world.

Ugh - can't anyone make a sailing movie?

[oceannesailor · 5/10 · 23 December 2019]

One can hardly ever critique a true story. And while I was pretty cynical of this one as soon as it left the docks, by the end I'd softened a bit. If you endeavor to take this journey, just DON'T expect much more than one-dimensional writing and out-dated, cliche' characterizations of sailors, and non-sailors, when at sea.

The real-life event took place in the eighties. It seems as though the screenplay was written then too, only recently found washed up on some beach somewhere, serving as an oddly quaint reminder of simpler story telling days gone by. It's so bad in so many ways, but somehow still pleasantly nostalgic in the end. Start with a low bar, and you may enjoy it enough to survive with a decent level of satisfaction in the end, like you'd just eaten some bland but healthy meal.

Doesn't quite deliver

[Phil_Chester · 26 August 2018]

OK, but doesn't quite deliver on its promise, yet it's still very watchable nonetheless. A little bit sketchy on the meaty parts of the story and a bit too padded out on the bits that are less important. Kind of like 'Cast Away', but on a boat and less gripping.

Ruined by blasphemy

[laurenlehain · 5/10 · 11 January 2020]

Our Lord's name taken in vain numerous times. Otherwise a great storyline.

The right side up

[toystein · 9/10 · 13 July 2016]

This film is based on a true story, which makes it very interesting. It's a survival tale set on top of a giant collection of water we call the ocean.

The production is convincing and maintains immersion. I thought the casting was perfect, and the actors do an excellent job conveying their characters.

I scored the film high because I felt it presented different aspects of the human spirit which is observed through the characters response and interaction to the situation, themselves and each other.

There is no waste or filler in the film, everything is well paced and contributes to the story which is well written.

I love stumbling on rare gems like this.

Please don't waste your time

[paigepmarks · 1/10 · 20 July 2022]

There are many Fantastic actors in this movie but overall it's a terrible plot and it moves very slow. The baby's constant crying in the movie will also leave you with a horrible headache 🤕 Just my recommendation to watch something else in your free time other than this film.

I expected it to be a bad movie . Because Dominic had let me down in the last two .

[mikevonbach · 12 September 2015]

But this was entertaining in a made for television genre . I never have ten lines of info to say about a film . So the rest of this review will be something that has nothing to do with this movie .At the age of two, Dominic and his family moved from England to Sydney's Bondi and then moved to the Western Suburbs. After becoming a landscape gardener, he soon tired of the profession and, whilst watching the war movie Platoon (1986), decided to become an actor. Due to his working-class background, acting seemed a very unlikely choice of career, so he didn't pursue it until sometime later. He studied at The Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) and then later enrolled at the Western Australian Academy of Performing arts where he met his future wife Rebecca and studied with Hugh Jackman.

In 1997, Dominic scored a role in the TV series Raw FM (1997) and then landed a part in Mission: Impossible II (2000), which was filmed in Australia. He was soon spotted by a US talent scout and went off to LA. Since then, Dominic has been working constantly with roles in the movie Equilibrium (2002), the TV show John Doe (2002), Blade: Trinity (2004), and in the upcoming thriller Three Way (2004) and a new police television drama, Strut. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Aeryn

Poor actors

[montu75 · 2/10 · 6 February 2021]

None of the actors were likeable, couldn't have cared less if any of them did get abandoned. Probably preferred it if they were. Stand out poor performance by the British guy, who kept overusing stereotyped vocabulaly such as 'bloody' and 'mate' in every other sentence. Not his fault of course, just poor writing. Abandon this movie, I surely should have.

Authentic sea story

[redisle · 9/10 · 31 October 2018]

I watched this with a few sailing friends and all, myself included, were impressed. It is a sea story well told.

But let's stand back from the actual real events for a moment. Here's a film that departs from the current trend in several important and positive directions: The story-line is clear. The voices are intelligible (even if the accent is from the far side of the globe for me). The flash-backs are clearly differentiated from the front-line story. There are not 1026 sub-plots. There is no sexual spicing up of the main story. As far as I could tell there was no subliminal advertising. What a pleasant change from the unintelligible mixup-gatherum of multi-plot nonsense that bombards us these days.

Now back to the sea. I found the story moved along nicely with variations in mood and happenings. It is rare for a true story to be so well told and to maintain interest. It even had the authenticity of a self-righteous skipper who was lavish in his criticism of his crew. My sailing friends wondered why he had no real crew in the first place. Yes, indeed.

Would this appeal to a non-sailing audience? I think it would. There is not exactly an excess of sailing jargon and the four main characters have an adequate range of personalities to maintain interest. Don't expect dramatic back-ground music and people posing on the bow! The story.is a true one and it shows.

The film is known by two different titles, "Abandoned" and "Stranded", neither of which really match the story but then almost any other title would give away too much.

One thought to finish with: one of the most important things to have when your boat is taking a tumble is a mirror.

An adventure is...

[screenwriter-972-149612 · 4/10 · 22 May 2022]

This a man vs. Nature and man vs. Man story that is more interesting than entertaining. Maybe it's the acting which boarders on amateurish. Or the lack of a main character to root for. Or the portrayal of the crew as self-centered for the most part and prone to incredibly stupid behavior. All of that seemed to kill the tension. And this film needed more. Right from the opening scene where a crew...if you can call it that, with little or no sailing experience signs on for a blue water trek that will take weeks are taken on by a captain that seems to be winging it, the viewer gets the feeling that this is going to be a mess. And it doesn't take long for lack of experience, preparedness and assorted character flaws to combine for a 'gang that couldn't sail straight' disaster. And that's before they're in real peril!

Of all the flaws this film exhibits, the biggest is its lack of tension. If an adventure is a tragedy that doesn't happen...but could, then the feeling that tragedy isn't going to occur lets a lot of air out of the film.

Everyone said this is a hoax, a scam, fraud - until the NZ cops said "No! It Happened!"

[febru3012 · 10/10 · 29 September 2016]

120 days at sea with no food or water. How did these four Blokes from New Zealand survive? That's the entire premise for this movie and relates the true story of these brave hapless souls. Its mesmerizing viewing for the movie audience and I strongly recommend ABANDONED (10 stars) for all ages since there is no nudity or swearing. Why this movie didn't get a bigger audience is beyond me. Perhaps its because no "A" list celebrity starred in it or because it wasn't "shot" in Hollywood by a major studio, I don't know. Its movies like these, that a person discovers on there own, that makes movie watching worthwhile. The script in ABANDONED is good, it has excellent production quality, its well directed and the actors are very credible. SEE THIS MOVIE!

This movie will Stick with you for a while!!

[VamshiGK · 9/10 · 14 March 2019]

One of the best Sea survival movie I've ever watched! Keeping aside all of the controversy whether it actually happened or not, just watch this one as a great story which has too many emotions involved, top notch acting, great screenplay and cinematography!! This is one movie that makes your heart feel heavy, in the end!!

Great tension that unbelievably really took place

[macarthurt · 8/10 · 3 January 2017]

this is truly are great movie. The story is told in a very "natural" fashion, concentrating on the inner feelings of the protagonists. still at no time there is something as length in this film. in opposite its the "little" motions, sudden turns and details that keep the tension up. Dominic Purcell is acting brilliantly and his fellow sailors are doing great as well. I would - just for cinematic reasons of course - hope for a second part. The actual incident was really dramatic, so I really do not want anything like this happen in the real world. I like movie setting in which more or less random people are bound together in a close room or so like "12 angry men". this picture could become one of the cult movies showing how different men cope with critical situations

1st review

[tonicwineboy · 10/10 · 22 October 2019]

Just a beautiful well acted heartwarming film. Cant beat a true story either.

Good because it's true.

[kizzie_nikita · 8/10 · 6 December 2020]

I loved this because it was based on true events. Thus you can't ask for too much drama, or action if it never happened, always worth a watch.

If this was just a movie on it's own, it would have been boring, and slow, but luckily it wasn't.

my favorite genre, done so well

[safwan364 · 8/10 · 22 January 2022]

I could not stand up to do anything else except watch the movie from start to finish. It was excellent. The story, thrill, excitement, drama, even some action. Very refreshing story.

Otherwise known as Stranded

[nigelmacdonald-97173 · 8/10 · 13 April 2020]

This is a great survival story and very realistically portrayed. Can't really fault it and in fact wish it had gone into more detail. I especially enjoyed the way each individual coped and it seemed like a very honest account. Highly recommended as an uplifting story of these blokes will to survive against all odds.