Review of Perfect Storm, The

Introduction

Based on the book “The Perfect Storm : A True Story of Men Against the Sea” by Sebastian Junger this movie tells the true story of the worst recorded storm in history.

It’s October 1991 and a group of six Sword fishermen from Gloucester, Massachusetts, return to sea after an unsuccessful fish determined to return with the catch of a lifetime. With each person leaving behind their own personal circumstances they set out in the “Andrea Gail”, under the captaincy of Billy Tyne (George Clooney). Other members of the crew include Mark Wahlberg (Boogie Nights, Three Kings) as Bobby Shatford, William Fichtner (Armageddon) as David “Sully” Sullivan, and John C. Reilly (Days of Thunder) as Dale “Murph” Murphy.

Venturing out further into the North Atlantic than usual they hit pay dirt but their refrigeration unit fails meaning they must return home or the catch will spoil. Amazing weather conditions have closed in behind them and stand between them and home. The amazing weather conditions are 3 separate storms which collided with each other to create the “Perfect Storm”. Do they risk the voyage home right through the largest storm ever recorded or do they sit tight as their catch spoils to eventually return home empty handed? Well it’d be a little boring if they simply sat tight wouldn’t it? :).

Being based on a true story there might be a fair few of you who know the outcome already. I was not one of those people and knew absolutely nothing about this story so, for the benefit of people in the same boat (pardon the pun) I’ll try as hard as I can not to give anything away about the outcome.

Industrial Light and Magic were brought in to bring the storm to life and set up a battle of man against the elements in this special effects roller coaster.

Video

Is it really surprising to hear that this transfer is top notch? If it were anything other than superb I would have been very disappointed, for one of the biggest release of the year this had to be of the best quality. The picture is anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is reference quality. All the usual comments that are made about top quality transfer apply doubly so here, I have no complaints about the look of this one whatsoever.

The menu starts with a small compilation of action scenes then takes you into a nicely animated menu screen (with a storm in the background) that doesn’t get in the way of navigation.

The effects in this movie looks absolutely awesome. I can’t recall being so awestruck at the effects in a movie for a long, long time. I challenge anyone to actually spot the cgi only scenes from the mixed real/cgi scenes. Also the mixed scenes are seamless, the merging from real action to cgi is amazing. Once the action gets going there are so many parts where you actually sit there thinking thoughts along the lines of “bloody hell!”. I hate boats, always have done, and this only puts me off of them further :P

Fantastic stuff!

Audio

Well, what more can I say? Top class image and a first class Dolby Digital soundtrack. Again of reference quality it matches the excellence of the effects and picture perfectly. The action scenes are 110% engrossing, I was riveted to my chair as waves crashed around me. The use of the sub woofer is perfect as well, really adding weight to the water effects but never over used. Do yourself a favour and watch this on as large a screen as you possibly can. The sound puts the finishing touches on the whole package and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you actually started to feel sea sick such is the impressive illusion that this movie creates.

I can see this disc becoming demo material at Home Cinema stores everywhere :).

The score is likewise first class. Composed by James Horner (Aliens, Titanic plus many more). Not quite surpassing my favourite (Titanic) it fits in with everything else superbly. One I will definitely be purchasing on CD as soon as possible.

Features

A huge pat on the back for Warner for including a bumper crop of extras. First things first though . . . WATCH THE MOVIE BEFORE YOU WATCH ANY OF THE EXTRAS!! Watching the extras first will most definitely ruin many of the movie’s surprises so be warned.

What do we have here then? Well here goes . . .

You get an audio Commentary with Director Wolfgang Peterson which is very, very interesting. Tons and tons of behind the scenes info that I strongly recommend you listen to. It’s amazing just where the special effects were used that you would never guess :). There is a wealth of interesting information in this commentary that gives you a much greater appreciation for film making in general.

Following this there is a second audio commentary, this time with Sebastian Junger, author of the book on which this film is based. This one is more focussed on the actual reality of the whole story and the people involved rather than the film making aspect.

On from commentaries we have an HBO first look special which is a 20 minute behind the scenes documentary which gives a very interesting insight into how the film was made and shows you the ordeals that the main cast members had to go through. Kind of gives you a little more respect for the lucky overpaid gits :).

Next up is Witnesses to the storm, a 5 minute documentary of accounts from people who witnessed the storm in October 1991. I would have liked to have seen more of this type of thing as it helps to give you a better appreciation of just how severe this storm was. Carrying on there is Creating an emotion, a 5 minute behind the scene look at the movie’s score by James Horner. Then there’s Conceptual art which is a 10 minute section where Wolfgang Peterson talks you though several conceptual paintings.

Still with me? “Yours forever” photo montage is a series of stills from the movie displayed to the film’s theme song. There’s also a theatrical trailer and a Soundtrack promo. The Storyboard Gallery covers the “the shark scene”, “Murph overboard” and the “Helicopter scene” in intricate detail. It’s interesting to see what was altered between storyboarding and filming.

Lastly there is a Cast and Crew listing – nothing more than a text link, and some DVD rom content which, as usual, is pretty much just a series of web links and not allot to get excited about.

Comparisons are often made between extras found on region 1 discs and how region 2 purchasers are often sold short. Well, believe it or not, the region 2 disc is missing one extra - a third audio commentary from Stefen Fangmeier (Industrial Light Magic`s Visual Effects Supervisor) and Helen Elswit (Visual Effects Producer for "A Perfect Storm"). I really wish they had included this commentary track as the information in the rest of the extras really does get you interested in how the effects were achieved.

Still, that said, you still get an impressive extras package and region 2 purchasers will be more that happy with what’s on this disc, I’m out of breathe just trying to tell you about everything that’s here :).

Conclusion

This movie can be divided pretty neatly into two halves, you have the first hour building up the background and developing the characters with the second hour being a rip roaring tour de force of awesome special effects.

In amongst the special effects you have a top notch cast who do a brilliant job. George Clooney is excellent in this film as Captain Tyne. You can feel for the guy as a Captain down on his luck who knows he can do better, and do better by his crew. Mark Wahlberg is also excellent as Tyne’s right hand man Bobby Shatford. Leaving his girlfriend on shore (ably played by Diane Lane) he puts to sea for one last pay day. There is allot of chemistry between Clooney and Wahlberg as was demonstrated in Three Kings so pairing these two together in this movie makes perfect sense.

The supporting cast do a solid job of rounding out the background. Notable are Mary Elizabeth Manstrantonio (The Abyss) as Captain Linda Greenlaw, captain of the Andrea Gail’s sister ship, and Michael Ironside making an appearance as the boat’s owner, Bob Brown. I think Michael Ironside is an excellent actor and would have liked to have seen him given more to work with in this movie but at least he’s here nonetheless.

On first viewing this is a strange film. It’s strange because I found myself more interested in the other goings on in the storm than the events aboard the Andrea Gail. There is a stricken sailing boat that is caught in the storm from which the crew of three need rescuing. This brings in the Coastguard ship along with the Rescue Helicopter team. The scenes involving the rescue team are amongst the most exciting in the movie and I found that I had far more sympathy for the rescue team than those aboard the fishing vessel. The rescue guys are there out of choice to help others whilst the crew of the Andrea Gail are caught in the storm apparently out of greed.

At the end I felt disappointed. I had enjoyed it but felt no empathy for the main characters and, as impressive as the effects were, the human element was a little lost by the end of the movie. Sure you are constantly reminded of the people left behind waiting for news of their loved ones but I just didn’t care as much as I should have for them. This was on first viewing though.

Going back and watching this movie a second time was a totally different experience. Having watched some of the extra features before seeing it a second time I had a much greater appreciation of the motivations behind the main characters mainly due to the world in which they lived. It was initially very hard to see why the characters would risk life and limb to get back to shore however when you consider that this was all they had, that fishing was their entire lives, you start to empathise with them more and you start to realise just what type of people we are dealing with here.

So, do they live or do they die? Well even though I enjoyed the film far more knowing what actually happens I still won’t tell you. All I would say is that if you feel at all disappointed after the first viewing set aside some time to watch the documentaries and then watch it again knowing full well what will happen and see if you are still disappointed.

Right, time to summarise as usual :). Reference quality visuals and audio, very interesting extra features that add a whole lot to what is a highly entertaining movie with truly awesome special effects. Highly recommended as an overall package even if it did take me two viewings to really understand where it’s coming from.