Reviews: The Perfect Storm

[JoBlo]

JoBlo's 7/10 review of THE PERFECT STORM can be found here: http://www.joblo.com/perfectstorm.htm
Your past movie reviews from May 1998 - November 2001 can be found there as well.

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[urbanlegend23]

I actually quite enjoyed The Perfect Storm, I thought it was very entertaining. So, why the average rating? Well, I’ll tell you. Obviously the film has gone wrong somewhere, and in its character development is where. Families of the victims of this natural disaster are actually trying to sue the Film Company that made The Perfect Storm. I can see why. The movie’s characters are actually underdeveloped and while they’re out on the ship they don’t seem extremely likeable and to tell you the truth, they look a bit unprofessional out on the boat. I don’t know if this is due to bad acting or bad writing, but it seems that way and it has effected relatives of the natural disaster to go very far so obviously The Perfect Storm is definitely not a perfect puppy. The film can also be a bit cheesy and it takes too long to get to the damn storm. Lets see some special effects, already! However, when the characters really get into the storm the audience gets just as terrified as the people must have been on the Andrea Gail. The CGI special effects are the most convincing of 2000 and I was amazed at how realistic the storm was. And you can’t write a review of The Perfect Storm without mentioning that awesome huge wave that we all saw in the trailer. Awesome stuff! Add to that great sound, some strong music and a terrifying time in the ocean and you have what could’ve been a modern great if the characters were better developed and the corn was just cut down a little.

THE PERFECT STORM: 6/10

[FlickJunkie]

The Perfect Storm (2000) - 4/10

Yawn. What a waste of money, time and talent. Despite all the "based on a true story" buzz that want's us to believe that this is this serious, legit homage to real life heroes, this is for the most part just another one of those witless disaster flicks that live only for their CGI effects. Too bad, because for a while, I thought we were in for a truly moving adventure.

The movie starts out being okay and then it just drags on and grows duller by the minute. The dynamics on board quickly become repetitive and predictable. When the sailors don't catch fish, they're grumpy. John C. Reilly and William Fichtner fight like schoolboys. When they catch fish, oh now they're jolly. Through it all, clunky dialogue, and nothing of much interest. Will the impending disastrous weather spark some life back into the film? Nope. Sure, it will become incredibly noisy and rocky and wet, but never will it actually make us either think, be moved or even be much thrilled. When the same TV reporter (Chris MacDonald I think) starts babbling about how three storm formations are about to collide near the Bermudas and create what he calls a 'perfect storm', packing hurricane-strong winds and 100 feet waves, first thing that goes into your mind is what are these fishermen, stupid or what? Don't they check the weather before going out in the ocean? The film explains that Clooney and crew have been in a slump lately, and they really need the money, but still...

Then, what doesn't help is that Petersen keeps leaving the Andrea Gail to show us what the Coast Guard are up to. I guess it's so we know why they couldn't go help our "heroes", but the thing is, we don't care about these guys. These are nobody actors playing dudes we know nothing about. Oh, so they're nearly drowning, and the helicopter is having problem in these extreme conditions and whatnot... So what? Then again we go back to Clooney and the bunch, and though it is tragic how they strive to survive in the middle of a monster that's almost sure to crush them, it's not particularly exciting. Amazing, state of the art special FX can only go so far. At the service of a wrenching story like the doomed romance in Titanic, movie magic heightens a film experience. But an hour of rain and wind and waves blasting over characters we stopped caring about gets mighty long. Besides the huge wave from the trailer and the poster, there are no other money shot. Plus, the horribly syrupy score by James Horner is plain awful and the epilogue is pure emotionnal overkill that makes you go 'Enough already, run the credits!". The Perfect Storm is a letdown. Good thing I saw it on HBO for "free" because I would have hated helping this film make any more money.

[James Logan]

I really enjoyed this film. It could be called usual popcorn entertainment, but as it's based on a real story, I think it can't just be called that. George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg were excellent, the directing is ok, and the special effects are tremendous. AND I wasn't bored a single second while watching it, and isn't that the point?

7.5/10

[LmpBzktSgrCarter]

I thought that the Perfect storm, was a pretty good movie, not worth seeing more than 2 times though. The casting was good, and so was the storyline, but it could have been so much better, in so many ways. I think the best part of this movie was the visual effects.

[DonnySheldon]

disapointing...borring...annoying...bad plot... bad script...but great effects so I take away 7 points for the bad stuff and add 1 for the effects and sound so it averages out to about a 4/10.
I think for about 15 minutes straight durring a "intense" scene, the lightning causes the screen to go black and white black and white for like 100 times in a row!!! I popped a blood vesel in my eye!!!!!!!!!!!

[The1TrueFrog]

The Perfect Storm - 5/10.

The best way to rate this one is just to say it's a half-and-half movie. The bulk of it was just repetitive and dull, and it definately could have lost at least 1/4 of its total running time without losing anything. But the story was about something exciting, and I think everything intended was accomplished even with more than enough left on tape. It also had a sad ending that (if you're not asleep) will make you think about how tough a journey like this would be. And Alice In Chains' "Man In The Box" was here, which gives the producers a bonus from me http://www.joblo.com/ubb/smile.gif All in all, it's a so-so film.

[catlady]

Along with the movies that I absolutely love, I also have a list of the movies that I absolutely hated. This movie tops my list.
You see these men go into a storm, that they know they shouldn't, all because they are greedy ass*****. I'm not sure if all the fish they showed them catching really died, but I was a lot more upset about that, than having them all die at the end. I think they deserved it for being so stupid. What a complete waste of time that movie was! I would rather have spent almost two hours having bamboo shoots driven up through my fingernails.

[Cronos]

the main problem with this film is that its soooo damn boring, the pacing is aweful and nothing seems to happen for most of the running time. also the acting was pretty bad, Clooney was good but the rest of the cast pretty much sucked. also another thing that annoyed me is that its based on true events but nobody knows what happened because they all died. also all the scenes that tried to create emotion in the viewer just annoyed me
plus there was a load of shit effects

3/10

[king_verhoeven]

7/10

It has it faults (more than one) but after the movie is over I was still moved. The best part goes to Clooney who is great in his role as Captain of the Andrea Gail. I thought the whole boat crew was loveable especially Bugsy and Alfred Pierre. The only thing that I didn't like that much was the attitude between Murph and Sully, very childish. The first part were they try to work on your emotion with al the fisherman's wives worked sometimes...but most of the times it didn't. Some examples: Bugsy meets this woman in the bar the night before and suddenly she cares for him and sits the whole day in the bar watching the terrifying news broadcast. Murph's wive comes too deliver his boy for an hour or so in the bar and doesn't seem to care much for Murph anymore. Than when the bad news is spreading, she suddenly sits in the bar with her 5-year old next too al the other fisherman's wives...what's up with that.
The subplot about the helicopter guys also was rather lame because you don't have a connection with these guys.
The two points that do score for this movie are: the terrifying ocean, mother nature is angry and we are going to notice it. The force of nature is always a fascinating thing, and the way it is shown on the screen is excellent.
The other part that I really liked was the whole going out to sea for a month, not knowing if it's going to pay off. These guys have got to earn a living so they go at it one last time. When they have the choice to wait if the storm calms down and lose all the earned fish or to take a chance and bring the fish home they of course choose to bring it home. That's the nature of men, we don't call it quits but rather take a risk. What if you were the only one who wanted to wait, what to do then?? I guess you have no choice, and neither did clooney and the rest.
In conclusion, it was a 50/50 movie for me, but the reason it does get a 70/100 score is that whenever I see this movie and we are at the end in the church with the pictures of the men standing there, it cracks me up everytime and not a lot of movies do that with me.......therefore 7/10

[ralph_wiggum]

I cannot believe we are talking about this film again.... it came out so long ago! I loved the book more, but I have to say the film deserves a 8/10. Excellent execution.