"The Perfect Storm" is quite certainly a picture that drew me in, kept me interested and frequently caused me to hold my breath or grab the armrest on my chair. It's visually stunning - whatever special effects they use to create extreme weather have improved even in the few years since "Twister."
George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg are both excellent actors and turn in fine performances here. The rest of the cast isn't really given much to do - they sit and look anxious and scream or cry or both occasionally, but not much beyond that.
The film's biggest flaw is important but not fatal. The very chaos of a hurricane that has been so effectively recreated here has a tendency to make the action hard to follow at times, especially during the sequences involving the Coast Guard helicopter and its crew. There's no real way to tell these characters apart, and that makes it somewhat difficult to develop much interest in what happens to them. Furthermore, the Coast Guard sequences mostly just serve to intrude upon the story and characters we really care about, the Andrea Gale and her crew.
It's too bad, because the stuff aboard the swordboat is pretty good. On the whole, a strong but not outstanding film.
George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg are both excellent actors and turn in fine performances here. The rest of the cast isn't really given much to do - they sit and look anxious and scream or cry or both occasionally, but not much beyond that.
The film's biggest flaw is important but not fatal. The very chaos of a hurricane that has been so effectively recreated here has a tendency to make the action hard to follow at times, especially during the sequences involving the Coast Guard helicopter and its crew. There's no real way to tell these characters apart, and that makes it somewhat difficult to develop much interest in what happens to them. Furthermore, the Coast Guard sequences mostly just serve to intrude upon the story and characters we really care about, the Andrea Gale and her crew.
It's too bad, because the stuff aboard the swordboat is pretty good. On the whole, a strong but not outstanding film.