The Perfect Storm

Wolfgang Peterson's latest is primarily about visuals. It's about seeing those waves crash into the boat, about seeing the gail-force winds scrape the faces of the characters; about diving and rising amongst one-hundred foot swells. It's about seeing the power of such a ferocious storm. Quite possibly, the power of a hurricane has never been done in such an awesome manner before. Once Hurricane Grace collides with the other two weather fronts in a seemingly impossible manner, The Perfect Storm is amazing to behold.

But, before we see the first black clouds of the hurricane or the swell of the waves beneath the keel of the ship, we're treated to character development. Long periods of time devoted to character development. Tears fall everywhere, and from every set of eyes. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a more tearful first half-hour as is present in The Perfect Storm. It tries valiantly to be emotional, but unfortunately never rises above tedious. Mark Wahlberg's character's girlfriend, unfortunately, doesn't let us feel her pain as she does not have the acting power to muster any response from the audience. The older cast is better, but the emotional turbulence that Peterson so clearly wanted never really takes flight. The characters are left soaked to the bone in tears, and we never really get captured into the moment.

The Perfect Storm doesn't really have much of a story to tell. This group of fishing-lovers goes out to sea and get trapped in a storm that would claim all people in it's path. It's chronicles the lives of these fisherman during this fateful week. Unfortunately, they're on a boat, and that's not many location changes. Peterson tries to develop the characters on shore almost as much as those on the perilous sea, but it doesn't work too well. Peterson would have done better if he left them as faces, and developed the characters on the boat more and cut about 20 minutes from the running time. Perhaps more.

But, after the first half-hour on shore, the film really takes off. Their fishing is exciting, their encounters with the predators of the sea are suspenseful, and the cinematography is excellent. But, once the storm kicks up, the film kicks into overdrive and becomes incessantly suspenseful, becoming a non-stop thrill ride with some of the best visuals of the year. Rescue attempts are death-defying, repair attempts are courageous, and the sea is tumultuous.

The special effects, done by ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) are a dazzling achievement. This aspect of the film has to be seen to be believed. The lighting is fantastic, and the production involved in designing and destroying the boat is a sight to behold.

James Horner's score, however, is unpleasantly intrusive. It's too bad, but he tries vehemently to pry all of the tears out of your eyes. George Clooney is pretty good as the sea boat captain, and Mark Wahlberg is the shiny penny amongst the crew. John C. Reily is customarily good, as is a majority of the other faces in the film. The casting directors were busy people, filling easy-to-recognize faces in over a dozen roles.

Overall, it's a thrill ride that has to be seen to believe. "The Wave" as I've come to call one particularly amazing scene is one of the most awe-inspiring sights I've seen in a while. The characters aren't developed too thickly and the script should maybe have never been made in the first place; but the visuals sure are neat, and they make The Perfect Storm worth seeing.

On a scale of 1 to 10 seafaring bum-rushes : 6