|
|
THE PERFECT STORM
|
Last night Nancy and I went to see Das Fishink Boot, or the Wreck of the Edmund George Clooney.
The movie is an uncredited homage to Saving Private Ryan: cliché-strewn from end to end (on the flimsy excuse that it is 'based on' a true story) redeemed or camouflaged by spectacular gripping special effects designed for theaters as an integral part of the experience (that will not survive translation to the small screen and the living room couch). The acting is serviceable if not moving. George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg plays themselves, but likably, and the peripheral characters do what is expected and necessary. (The women mostly wait, wring their hands, or weep -- this is not a chick flick.) Gloucester, meanwhile, is glamorized like something out of Robert Louis Stevenson (such as the early scenes of Kidnapped), and for those of us who live around here, that is appealing by itself.
Because it is so contrived, the movie never affected me, except at the very end, when there are two small scenes among the doomed crew. So formulaic is the story line, indeed, that you should treat it not as a real story -- and with Hollywooding, it can't be -- but as an Omnimax adventure with characters. The sea is beautiful when it is not computer-simulation terrifying, the mechanics of swordfishing and navigation and rescue are all wonderfully displayed, and the whole thing is two and a quarter hours of soaking wet eye candy.
Like boats? Like the ocean? Go see the movie. Not really interested in the subject? Stay on dry land.
P. S. As we were leaving the theater, it began to rain ...