Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Wolfgang Peterson's 2000 mini-Titanic

The last time I checked, the word on the street is down on The Perfect Storm, and probably rightfully so.  The dialogue's a little clunky, the people are cardboard cutouts, etc. etc. ... but Wolfgang's an action director above all else, and he seems to like the sea.  Das Boot, Poseidon, what have you.  And at least they try for Oscar gold, especially with the dialogue in certain select portions.  And after all this time that's passed, there's the Where Were They Then factor.  Man!  Tim Robbins put on a hell of a lot of weight to play... oops, it was John C. Reilly.  Never mind.  As for Marky Mark, it's his typical role he tries for, but he tries to bring some human empathy to it.  Just the jealousy talking, Mark.  Allen Payne had to turn his back on his work here and most of the rest of his résumé before being allowed to work with Tyler Perry.
Arguably, the first half's a little boring, but it's all about laying the groundwork for the impending tragedy to come.  A second boat is introduced with the Shawshank warden as its captain, and Clooney brings on an extra crew member who brings some much needed conflict to the pic.  I'm a sucker for good action sequences and I'm going to assume that some of the special effects people on this one graduated to any number of Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  You get a good sense of the largeness and the violent turbulence of the ocean... yeah, go ahead!  Make fun of me.  I deserve it.  Lord, your ocean is so big and my blog is so small. 
I hate to call this a "guy pic."  That's Spike TV's job, but it seems an apt description.  The ancillary characters try to detract from that label as best they can.  Not Chris McDonald, though.  He's the butchest TV weatherman you'll ever see... okay, the second.  I gotta go.

***
-so sayeth The Movie Hooligan

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