’’The Perfect Storm’’ is a fairly good film that, sadly, could have been a great one, had it really managed to get it’s priorities right.
This fact-based tale of the the most powerful storm in recorded history, which, in the autumn of 1991 turned the North Atlantic into a sailor’s worst nightmare (90-foot waves were recorded). ’’The Perfect Storm’’ primarily follows the fate of the fishing vessel the ’Andrea Gail’, and its crew of six. The ill-fated boat finds itself sailing right into the dark heart of the storm as it races to get its cargo of fish to home port, before it spoils.
Unfortunately, director Wolfgang Peterson succumbs to the ’Summer Blockbuster Syndrome’, which dictates that special effects are to reign supreme - to the detriment of all else. The effects ARE awesome and impressive, but they’re allowed to go on too long - until wonder gives way to terminal boredom.
• NOTE - I didn’t realise it at the time, but when I visited Warner Bros Studios early last year, we went onto ’Stage 16’ the largest sound stage in Hollywood. The guide told us that a couple of weeks before they’d just finished filming some amazing sea scenes right there on that soundstage. Having seen the film - it is quite amazing to realise that the storm scenes were all shot INDOORS!
Anyway, back to the review...
Had the film-makers used less repetitious, and ultimately tedious shots of boats and crewmen being buffeted and battered by waves, and devoted that time to giving us more well-rounded characters, than the ending, which is admittedly moving, would seem less manipulative and more genuinely earned.
’’The Perfect Storm’’ needed an actor better than George Clooney to take the role of the captain. He is the one character in the screenplay who is not one-dimensional, suggesting a complex man, at times compassionate, at others possessed by almost Ahab-like demons that may ultimately have sealed his and his crews’ fate. Clooney can give himself a grizzled, man-of-the-sea look by not shaving for a few days, but beyond that he sadly lacks the acting ability and ’gravitas’ - a larger than life persona to elevate ’’The Perfect Storm’’ to a near perfect movie.
And in any case - in all that weather, why did they go out in the ’’Perfect Storm’’? They could have stayed home and watched a film on TV.