The Perfect Storm (Widescreen)

The book The Perfect Storm was a number one New York Times best seller, and had nothing but astounding reviews. The movie, was a major motion picture with equally prodigious reviews. "This," I thought "would be a good story for my english project." So I read the book; as I did, I kept waiting for it to get better, or to be "blown away" as entertainment magazine said. Although the end of the book got better, my opinion is that it did not live up to it's expectations. Disappointingly, I do not agree with many critics. Throughout reading the book, I was wondering how it is possible to convert so many facts, details, and technical terms into a visual presentation. They would have to change so much of the story to make a movie, I thought. It turned out. I thought right. The movie turned out to be everything I was hoping for, and more. When comparing the movie to the book, I concluded that the movie was far superior.
The book was a completely factual book under a mass of technical detail. Sebastian Junger, the author, stuck strictly to the facts. The story explained where the Andria Gail was on the radar system, radio conversations, and real conversations at Glucester. He interviewed other people who had been through similar situations, so we would get an idea of the the six- man crew on the Andria Gail went through and felt. For instance, the book explained what drowning felt like, and the last thoughts of people who thought they were about to die. There is an over obsessive amount of detail. Like how hurricanes are formed. Or the technicalities of sword fishing and how it is done. Never does the book explain what is going on to the people on the Andria Gail . It only states where the boat probably is, and how big the waves are that they experienced. Junger also presumes what Billy Tyne (George Cloony) is thinking. As you might perceive from this, it was uninteresting and arid to read a book with such a lack of suspense. This scarcity drew me away from enjoying the book.
In the movie, the beginning was a lot alike, just much more concise. Both talked about the crows nest (the local bar) and emphasized Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), and his relationship with Chris Cotter (Diane Lane). But the book talked more about the history of Glucester, and stories from the Crows Nest, which Although the beginnings of both were much the same, the book made a bigger deal out of what was happening at Glucester. Fortunately, the movie condensed this section of the Perfect Storm. Once the Andria Gail leaves the harbor, the stories totally changed. The movie stays with the crew of the boat, fictionalizing the events on the boat. Since it is a movie, there has to be action throughout the middle of the plot, not just at the end. To accomplish this, there were conflicts made up that were happening on; or to the ship. For instance, Murph and Sully got into a fight, becoming enemies. Later on, Murph got dragged into the ocean by a fishing hook, and Sully went down to save him. Or when Billy Tyne had to de-tangle the anchor that got tangled around the mast of the boat. These scenarios were another factor making the movie yet admirable. Some of the technical lines in the book told by the author were portrayed in the film as a character in the story speaking. For instance, when Sebastian Junger explained how three major storms come together to create a once- in- a- lifetime catastrophe, The Perfect Storm is generated. These lines, in the film were stated by an actor who played a Glucester weatherman. The movie also has great cinematography, with phenomenal shots of the ocean, and on-deck scenes; much of which could not be portrayed in words. The fantastic imagery adds much to the film
I think the movie did an okay job at portraying the characters in the
movie as actors (the casting). I was imagining somebody pretty close to George Cloony as Billy Tyne. The movie did a good job at matching the description of the book. But when I imagined Bobby Shatford, I imagined somebody totally different. Mark Wahlberg did not at all match the description in the book. I am not a big fan of Wahlberg in this movie. He was part of a former boy - band, and has no acting skills whatsoever. The only reason I can see why the casting director put him as the part was to get teenage girls to see the movie. This was a great disappointment to me. The casting of Chris Cotter, was done well, as well as the four other crew members: Pierre (Allen Payne), Sully (William Fichner), Murph (John C. Rielly) and Moran (John Hawkes).
Many of the things that were changed in the story of the movie from the story of the book, clearly had a very good reason to be. The film was almost obligated to stay with the crew on the boat, and show what is happening; the book explained things like how storms were formed. It would be impossible to create a visual presentation that is precisely imitating the book, unless there was a narrator for the movie. This would be a very boring movie, making very little profit. On the other hand, if the book fictionalized the whole story, then it would be unclear to the readers as to which part of the book is actually true. Junger wanted to truthfully tell the story of the Andria Gail, and the monster that it sailed into. The movie turned out to be much more interesting, and exciting.

First, let me tell you that in my film study class at the school where I teach, this and Final Destination are the two most cited films of what not to do. Why? My biggest complaint about The Perfect Storm is that there is no main character. Initially, the audience is led to believe that it is Mark Wahlberg (Bobby), but then you become unsure when George Clooney (Capt. Tyne) comes on the scene. But that isn't even the worst of it. Generally, when a movie picks a main character, the main character is who tells the story and any scenes that don't have the main character in them must in some way relate to the main character. The Perfect Storm never does this. We follow the weather man predicting "The Perfect Storm" (He even says that and I can't stand the line when he does.) We follow the crew of a rescue helicopter. We follow the passengers on a touring sail boat that are caught in the storm. The only lee way that can be given on this is when the people that are actually attached to the sailors on the Andrea Gail are shown worrying about it. In the end, my final vote on the main character is the Andrea Gail-Yes, that's right. I voted for the boat, because it is the only consistent thing that we come back to.

Second big criticism is how hard they push the relationships, especially the ones that never existed. The first 45 minutes of the movie are dedicated to making us think that all of these sailors have the most incredible, most sincere, most loving relationships of any sailors in the world. I'm assuming that this is so we will feel really bad when they all die. Well, I thought it was sad that it was a true story and that they all died, but the only relationship that I really thought meant anything was between the boy and his father-the father, Murph (John C. Reilly), really seemed devoted to and cared about his son. The last thing he thought about was how this was going to upset his son. All of the other relationships were so forced, I thought they were funny-I hope that doesn't sound morbid.

Last criticism-This movie should end when the last contact with the Andrea Gail by the other ship captain, Linda Greenlaw (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), because that is the last we actually hear from the ship. Everything that takes place after that is only to add suspense to a movie that we already know ends in disaster. For all we know, the crew of the Andrea Gail could have decided to turn around and sail for England, sold its catch and are now living like Kings in the Canary Islands. What happened, happened, what didn't, well, let's leave that be.

I must admit that the special effects were remarkably well done and came across as being seamless-though I am by no means an expert on special effects. Other than that, this story lacked from head to toe.

Well, my love for disaster movies finally conquered my utter disdain for George Clooney, and I watched The Perfect Storm. The fact that the film is based on a true story in which several men did lose their lives makes it a little difficult to review, as I feel compelled to temper some of the comments I might have otherwise made. I'm sure the tragedy of the actual events made it hard to film, as well -- and I think that explains the slow-moving, problematic opening 30-40 minutes. The obvious intent is for us to get to know the men of the Andrea Gail, to see what life is like in a New England fishing community, and to see why and how these men risked the hardships of sword fishing out on the open ocean. It's not an easy life -- leaving loved ones behind for days or weeks on end, working like a dog to haul in giant fish without being injured or killed in any number of ways, never knowing if you were even going to catch enough to fish make the trip worthwhile. For some, it's about the money -- not greed, just a desperate need for the money to take care of you and yours. Mostly, though, it's about the love -- love for the sea, for fishing, etc. A lot of jobs don't really define the man (or woman) -- but a sword fisherman is a sword fisherman. That's what Billy Tyne was, but he was also a man on a losing streak, and his effort to redeem himself and his men led the Andrea Gail straight into disaster.

Unfortunately, in terms of the movie itself, the first 30-40 minutes are insufferably long, failing to make me care about any of the characters -- even Diane Lane grated on my nerves as the girlfriend who didn't want her man to go back out again. Then the boat finally sails, and the men go fishing. An hour's gone by, and you're wondering when this storm is ever going to show up. As for Tyne and his crew, things just aren't right from the start -- they're not catching a significant number of fish, a couple of guys are almost killed, the crewmen are fighting amongst themselves, and no one is the least bit happy. Ignoring all these ominous signs, Tyne decides to head on east way over to the Flemish Cap, caring little for the weather at his back -- until it's time to head home, of course. You would think a fisherman, more than any other person in the world, would have a healthy respect for the weather. Tyne knows there's extremely rough weather in between the Andrea Gale and home, but he and his men decide to plow on through rather than risk losing all of the fish they have finally caught. Unbeknownst for the most part to Tyne and his guys, weather conditions are now going to heck in a hand basket, as a huge hurricane, another burgeoning hurricane, and an area of dangerously low pressure smack together to form the 1991 Halloween Nor'easter ("the perfect storm") -- and the Andrea Gale is heading right down its throat.

Alongside the life-and-death struggle that now plays out aboard the Andrea Gale, we also get the chance to observe the efforts of Coast Guard rescuers trying to save the lives of some stranded boaters. A yacht on its way to Bermuda proves its just plain dumb "all I need's a compass" captain a complete and utter fool, and a helicopter is dispatched to try and save the three individuals onboard. Unlike the footage of the Andrea Gale's struggle, the Coast Guard rescue effort is downright compelling -- and gets even more compelling later on when the rescuers themselves need rescuing. The film is a great tribute to these real-life heroes (one of whom was lost during the events chronicled here); you just can't say enough about these brave guys. It's a pity the entire film wasn't about them.

It's actually rather surprising just how little I, as a viewer, emotionally invested in the story of the Andrea Gale. The crewmen weren't men I really liked, especially the headstrong captain who puts his own selfish needs over the welfare of his crew, and they did pretty much know what they were getting into when they decided to risk heading home through the storm. The special effects were impressive, but for me, the emotion of the whole tragedy just never manifested itself in this story -- and that is the main weakness of the film.