We drove to Philly last Friday have dinner and then saw the movie. Not to my surprise, the movie house was just 1/3 full. I guess this movie is so odd with just one actor and practically has no dialog. It was a big gamble for those who funded the movie despite it has a big name actor in it.
My brief
reviews:
1. I did not feel bored at all during 106 min in the movie.
2. The
photography is not as good as Life of Pi, although the underwater scene was shot by the same
camera person in Life of Pi.
3. The story was written by a person who is apparently not a sailor, thus many things were not so logical to a seasoned off-shore sailor. Not sure if they had a consultant in this matter.
4. If this was a real life situation, a season sailor would not die. Robert Redford's performance is top notch. But the main character made many
mistakes how he handled the boat.
Obviously, the director portraits Redford as a season sailor. He did not panic when disaster strikes. In real life, this will likely happen:
1. Cargo container would have punched a hole below the
water line on the boat. Redford is lucky in this regard.
2. Redford should use the
wood board from the company way to fix the hole with screws and reinforced by
fiberglass from both sides.
3. He should have two bulge pumps working or get it working again. He is doing off-shore sailing. He must have redundancy.
4. When he sees the storm is coming, why didn't prepare for the worst. He did not pull the
storm jib out until the storm is at its peak. He failed to "heave-to" to stabilize the boat during the storm. As a result, he has a broken
mast and a several knockdowns.
5. It was a miracle that after washed
overboard, he could get back on the boat. In real life, it is unlikely even if he is tethered to boat unless he is a super strong young mam.
6. Why didn't he carry an
EPIRB and personal
GPS beacon. No one leave port
sails into the ocean without these two devices.
7. If he have a portable
VHF radio, he could call other ships in the
shipping lanes.
8. Of course, under this stressed situation, one's mental status can be a concern. That is one reason all off-shore sailors constant prepare for disaster physically and mentally.
It is a good movie, not a great one. It is too bad that this movie will scary away lot of sailor wannabes. I took a few employees with us to the movie. All told me that they would never come sail with me. ...........hahahah.