SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 2 Hrs., 10 Min.
Released by Warner Bros. in 2000, director Wolfgang Petersen’s film adapts Sebastian Junger’s same-named 1997 novel. Both Junger’s ‘creative non-fiction’ novel and its cinematic counterpart, to varying degrees, present speculative accounts explaining the disappearance of the Andrea Gail, a Massachusetts swordfishing boat, in late October 1991, amidst Hurricane Grace.
In October 1991, Bob Brown’s (Ironside) rival fishing boats, Hannah Boden and Andrea Gail, return from long-line swordfish expeditions to port at Gloucester, Massachusetts, at the season’s close. Despite Boden’s captain, Linda Greenlaw (Mastrantonio), suffering a crew fatality, Brown is still pleased with her ship’s catch. Brown, however, chastises the Gail’s captain, Billy Tyne (Clooney), for his own insufficient haul, accusing an indignant Tyne of losing his once-reliable touch. Tyne’s weary yet loyal crew (Wahlberg; Reilly, Payne; & Hawkes), meanwhile, reunite with their loved ones for the next few days.
Tyne then opts for one more trip, as a likely lucrative catch could happen without competition. Recruiting moody “Sully” Sullivan (Fichtner) as a crew replacement, Tyne convinces the other four crewmates to join him – as they all smell an improved payday. If anything, Tyne seeks to prove to Brown and really more to himself that he is still among the best skippers in the business finding valuable pockets of fish.
Bobby’s (Wahlberg) girlfriend, Chris Cotter (Lane), implores him not to go, given her bad omen of this last-minute change of plans. Bobby reluctantly ignores her warning. Similarly, a divorced Murph (Reilly) seeks distraction having recognized his ex-wife (Kennedy) is likely re-marrying soon. Hence, he senses imminent competition for his adoring young son (Tank).
Apart from Murph and Sully’s mutual friction, the Gail’s usual voyage to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland proves uneventful. Opting to push further along the Gulf Stream to The Flemish Cap, Tyne is unaware that two storm fronts have converged with the subtropical Category 2 Hurricane Grace rapidly moving up the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. A Massachusetts TV meteorologist (McDonald) realizes in horror what catastrophic weather conditions will now commence between Canada and New England.
Finding a treasure trove of swordfish (and a shark attack), the Gail crew’s joy is sabotaged by a malfunctioning ice system. Risking a hasty dash back towards Gloucester to save their catch for market sales, the Gail is caught up in the storm. Via radio, Greenlaw tries warning a distracted Tyne of his vessel’s predicament. The Gail soon loses its radio antenna – and with it, all communications. Inside the ship’s damaged bridge, Tyne and Bobby improvise trying to keep the overwhelmed Gail from capsizing.
Elsewhere, an isolated three-person crew (Gunton; Allen; & Jones) aboard a sailboat bound for Bermuda are among the storm’s prisoners necessitating rescue. An Air National Guard helicopter later risks also being lost at sea searching for the Gail. A U.S. Coast Guard rescue vessel may be the flight crew’s sole hope to escape the raging Atlantic Ocean. At Gloucester, the Gail’s family members anxiously await news at a dockside pub, as the ship’s location is now unknown.
Despite Tyne’s heroic steering, the oceanic onslaught shifts in the same direction as their desperate retreat. SPOILER ALERT: In the epilogue, Greenlaw contemplates friendly rival Tyne’s insights from an earlier interaction they had, as she departs on her next expedition.
Primary Cast:
Capt. Frank William “Billy” Tyne, Jr.: George Clooney
Robert “Bobby” Shatford: Mark Wahlberg
Christina “Chris” Cotter: Diane Lane
Dale “Murphy” Murphy: John C. Reilly
David “Sully” Sullivan: William Fichtner
Capt. Linda Greenlaw: Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Michael “Bugsy” Moran: John Hawkes
Alfred Pierre: Allen Payne
Bob Brown: Michael Ironside
Ethel Shadford: Janet Wright
Quentin: Sandy Ward
Melissa Brown: Karen Allen
Edie Bailey: Cherry Jones
Alexander McAlly II: Bob Gunton
Todd Gross: Christopher McDonald
Douglas “Dougie” Kosco: Joseph D. Reitman
Air National Guard flight crew: Todd Kimsey; Josh Hopkins; Dash Mihok; Chris Palermo; & Wiley M. Pickett
Irene: Rusty Schwimmer
Irene’s children: Katelyn C. Brown & Miles Schneider
Debra – Murph’s ex-wife: Merle Kennedy
Dale Murphy, Jr.: Hayden Tank
Alfred’s girlfriend: Jennifer Sommerfeld
U.S. Coast Guard Commander Brudnicki: Steve Barr.
REVIEW:
Given Wolfgang Petersen’s sturdy directorial reputation (not to mention, this particular cast), it’s reasonable to expect The Perfect Storm to be a relatively high-caliber effort. Yet, as other underwhelmed reviewers have noted since the film’s release, Perfect Storm’s “based on a true story” plot pushes disappointing and predictable superficiality from the get-go.
Too little too late in the gripping Titanic-like climax/epilogue can’t overcome Petersen’s excessive paint-by-the-numbers cliché-fest, i.e. a schmaltzy first twenty-plus minutes depicted on shore. Knowing full well Petersen wasn’t making a documentary, his ensemble cast at least delivers solid performances recreating a real-life tragedy. The underlying problem with Perfect Storm is instead twofold, as to its highly speculative premise.
First, by fictionalizing real-life participants, viewers witness mostly Hollywood-ized caricatures all too formulaic for the big-budget disaster film genre. Among such dubious character traits is glorifying foolhardiness by George Clooney’s “Tyne” and his crew for not retreating early on – despite still having time to do so. From a hit filmmaker’s perspective, having Tyne’s vessel fatally sunk in mere seconds or a few minutes (no matter how logical it sounds) obviously isn’t good business. Such grim realism would expedite this movie’s running time far too much, let alone diminish its need for fictional plot twists.
Of the few confirmed details known before the Andrea Gail’s fate, depicting Tyne and his crew as being impetuous for money and professional glory isn’t necessarily in the best taste. It implies that the Andrea Gail’s crew unwittingly engineer their own demise by daring a monstrous hurricane with little more than mortal bravado. Hence, the production’s desire to profit off this historic maritime tragedy by adding Hollywood hokum into the mix is again debatable, as far as exploiting the decedents and their families.
Petersen, to his credit, occasionally compensates with scenes demonstrating exceptional filmmaking. Among them is Clooney’s well-played last moment, along with those of the ship’s crew. A glaring exception, however, is the implied death scene for Mark Wahlberg’s “Bobby” – it comes off too ridiculously theatrical for its own good.
Secondly, it isn’t hard to spot the practical realities of how The Perfect Storm was safely filmed. Clooney, Wahlberg, John C. Riley, and others were no doubt working inside an enormous water tank later adding lots and lots of CGI ocean water. Apart from water cannons blasting Clooney and Wahlberg during their innumerable close-ups, Petersen’s cast, otherwise, can hide such phoniness only so much maintaining their dramatic composure.
By no means is the unconvincing Perfect Storm a blot on any cast member’s resumé, given the script they had. Their inability to manipulate viewers to become engrossed in the imminent tragedy instead falls on a paycheck-only effort from Petersen. His take on a real-life at-sea disaster had the opportunity to surpass James Cameron’s eye-rolling Titanic, as far as conveying believable character depth – not to mention, awestruck horror from the audience.
Though Petersen mostly avoids Cameron’s awful romantic dialogue, Perfect Storm doesn’t consistently muster the poignancy it needs to be taken seriously. Case in point: Clooney and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio’s thoughtful scene early on doesn’t belong in the same film as the unnecessary shark attack action-shlock seen later on. Big budget thrills (i.e. via the fake shark, not to mention, the dark monstrous CGI waves in the climax), becomes too much of a distracting eyesore for viewers.
Note: Coincidence or not, late composer James Horner supplied the instrumental scores for both Titanic and The Perfect Storm.
Hence, the relatable blue-collar overtones of Petersen’s film become lost within clichéd Hollywood melodrama and water-logged CGI for the sake of popcorn. Falling short of its cinematic potential, The Perfect Storm should have remained a creative, if not exploitative, nonfiction novel.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 4½ Stars
