The Perfect Storm Movie Review

The Perfect Storm (2000)

Rent The Perfect Storm on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link) 
Written by: Sebastian Junger (book), William D. Wittliff (screenplay)
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, John C. Reilly, William Fichtner, John Hawkes, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
In this disaster fishing movie everything goes wrong for the crew of the Andrea Gale. A man overboard, a shark, broken radios, and yes, even a perfect storm. Everything that can go wrong does. Even catching a great haul of fish turns out to be their detriment.

Verdict
I wanted just a little bit more from this. It's not without faults, but it is entertaining. Everything goes wrong, almost comically so. It's technically impressive, mimicking a stormy ocean very well. What it lacks in emotion it makes up for in scale and scope.
Watch it.

Review
I saw this before, not long after it released. A group of hard luck fisherman just can't catch a break.

The fishing town and bar is highly stylized. Despite just returning to port, I don't think there would be an overabundance of exuberance, especially when the fishing has been so poor. It doesn't matter how long they've been out to sea.
They need fish and the Captain (George Clooney) wants to go out one more time, immediately, and further than they've gone before because they need the money. It's setting it up for the obvious disaster and conclusion, a big storm! The title of the movie is pretty clear about what happens.

Either the meteorologist the movie frequently shows is a savant, Clooney just doesn't follow the weather, or the movie is just manipulative so they end up in a storm. It seems like this could have been avoided altogether if Clooney had turned on The Weather Channel.
Fishing is pretty slow until, SHARK ATTACK! The men are getting restless but Clooney is a fish finder and no one is to second guess him.
The movie is incredibly overwrought. We know what's going to happen, and this movie is a long tease with the finesse of a sledgehammer. Everything goes wrong and the crew makes poor decisions for the promise of a big haul and lots of money. It's money over sense every time, and they decide to drive through the storm instead of playing it safe. What's the worst that could happen, right?

The Perfect Storm - Everything goes wrong.

There are a lot of side stories. There's an arrogant sailboat captain, frequent shots of shipping boats tossing in the waves, a weatherman that underscores that this is the storm of the century, the Coastguard, the family of the ship's crew back at the bar, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as a ship's captain. Juggling all these stories, lessens the tension of what's happening on Clooney's boat. I never felt the hopelessness that  I did in All is Lost (2013), despite the dire situation.

The Coastguard helicopter rescues three people, lands on an aircraft carrier, but decides to refuel in midair on it's way to save Clooney during a hurricane. That doesn't work out. Who would have guessed?

During the climactic storm, you wonder if Clooney's crew will make it, but the answer quickly becomes apparent. The movie throws in the trope that the Captain must stay with the ship. Why? They could have had him try to save the trapped crew. I suppose the crew are all resigned to their fate, but they seemed rather calm despite the situation.

The boats in the oceans and the storms look great. It really looks like a hurricane. I wonder how they made this. I'm sure it's a blend of practical and CGI, but it's held up really well.

I really like the score, but the feature piece is used too often. Not every conversation needs over dramatic music.