Best movie of this year hands down!

Truly the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater

Expected more

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The disaster genre has not been successful in the past several years, rarely does a good, or at least memorable movie manage to squeeze out of the genre nowadays, The Impossible in 2012 for example. Every once in a while comes a surprise from this underused genre, this disaster drama directed by Wolfgang Peterson is one that graciously memorable and one that should still hold to this day. This movie set in the fall of 1991 tells the true story of Billy Tyne (played by George Clooney), a swordfisherman who leads his crew of fishermen on one last fishing expedition for the season across the Atlantic Ocean, despite the warnings of Captain Linda Greenlaw (played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) of a nasty hurricane approaching. As you may guess, what starts off as an enjoyable time of fish hunting and drinking becomes a terrifying fight for survival when the crew is caught into the powerful storm that puts their lives in serious peril. Highlighting a stellar cast aside Clooney of Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, William Fichtner, John Hawkes, Allen Payne, and Diane Lane; this movie pulls a truly terrifying experience sparkled with a great screenplay and credible performances.The title speaks well as this storm was called by meteorologists 'The Storm of The Century', and with the story dealing with such a devastating disaster; you should more than likely anticipate some emotional intensity to come. This is indeed, a really intense film that leaves your heart pounding and praying for the characters' survival, especially as this is a true story. Like many real-life based films, the accuracy of the events is subject for debate, but those who grow enticed by the moving story are likely to ignore the possible liberties this film takes. The characters are thinly developed but grow to be likable, even when they are shown to have rude sides such as the heated tension between John C. Reiley and William Fitchner. The performances by the cast are quite good, though none of them solidly stand out whether it is George Clooney stepping into the role of the well dedicated captain, or Mark Wahlberg playing a young rookie fisherman with a cautious girlfriend back at home played by Diane Lane . Nothing Oscar-worthy should be expected. The story moves at a decent pace and builds up to anticipated climax where the film reaches it's the highest point of it's emotional heft. The entire sequence of the violent storm are mightily brought to life by chilling special effects and dazzling visuals to embrace the authenticity, and leaves just enough room for an emotional impact to sink in as you fear for the characters' survival. The Perfect Storm does not sit on the throne of disaster movies, nor does it to. But it is a powerful film that is both entertaining and somewhat tear-jerking, and not in a manipulative manner. The cast performances are great, the screenplay works like a charm, and director Wolfgang Peterson does a gracious job on paying a tribute to the victims of the the disaster. The Perfect Storm is something worth watching.

"The Perfect Storm" features some excellent special effects and some good thrills while at sea, but the film ultimately fails to generate real drama. The story spends ample time developing the characters and getting us to know them, but nearly half of it is on land so I felt like I was missing out. My understanding is that if you take the book this film was based on, you take some of the actual facts of what happened on the commercial fishing boat Andrea Gail, you make up a events and toss some wicked special effects together you've got the plot of this movie. Desperate for money after a series of bad catches, Captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney) and his crew, consisting of Mark Wahlberg as Bobby, John C. Reilly as Murph, William Fichtner as Sully, Allen Payne as Alfred and John Hawkes as "Bugsy" all set sail… unaware that there is a storm brewing on the ocean… The titular "Perfect Storm"! Once at sea the crew spends so much time barely making it through the day and bickering between each other that when they get into some severe weather trouble we really don't feel like they stand a chance. They never proved to me that they can handle your run-of-the-mill stressful situation so when things went bad here, I was underwhelmed. We never see the well-oiled machine that would boldly go into the ocean thinking nothing can stop them so the ensuing streak of catastrophes feels like it was just something inevitable instead of a tragic and frightening development. It'd be like mocking Freddy Krueger on a Halloween night while staying at Crystal Lake. It would be a shock if you DIDN'T end up being in a horrific situation. I also feel like a big gripe that I have with the film is its length. The film also has several sub plots that could have been dropped. At 2 hrs. + this disaster film is way too long for its own good and some audiences will check out way before the titular storm even arrives. Whether you get bored or not you'll likely leave puzzled after seeing the ending. Even though the final events do follow the rest of the film logically and it's clear that it was genuine respect and admiration that inspired the film it's a big miss-step that brings it down even further. In the end it's not really that the movie is that bad as much as it's underwhelming considering how great the well done moments are. I say it's a middle-of-the-road picture because half of the movie is just kind of OK, and when the storm is raging, it's awesome so it averages out to… an average movie. I do admire the special effects though, if this movie was ever released in theatres again, and maybe even in 3-D it would look terrific and I'd jump to the opportunity to see it again. (On DVD, October 29, 2012)

The Perfect Storm is no way a perfect movie. It's a biographical disaster drama with a predictable downer ending, but you see, how much, these men were so driven as fishermen. I think, that's the best part about the movie. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, the movie is an adaptation of the 1997 non-fiction book of the same title by Sebastian Junger about the crew of the Andrea Gail, a swordfish boat that got caught in the middle of the Perfect Storm of 1991. The movie is very moving and edge-of-your-seat experiences. The movie is full of great actors putting their all into this film with their acting. You really get to see the chemistry between the Captain, Billy Tyne (George Clooney) and his supporting cast of fishermen. George Clooney is believable, and you can honestly, see him in this lead role. He really give some great talk interaction with both Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Mark Wahlberg's characters. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is just awful, her accent will guaranteed to make viewers from Massachusetts cringe. Likewise, the relationship between Tyne and Linda Greenlaw was fictitious. Tyne and Greenlaw were barely acquainted in real life. While, it's clear that George Clooney is stirring the ship as the on screen lead. It's in fact, Mark Wahlberg whom get most of the screen time as Robert "Bobby" Shatford. The movie focus on his love-affair with Christina "Chris" Cotter (Diane Lane) more than anything in the film. Because of this, we rarely know anything much about the others crew, besides a few details just there to pull heart strings. Dale "Murph" Murphy (John C. Reilly) is a veteran fisherman whom divorced with a son with whom he's very involved in. Murph also has rocky relationship with crewmember David "Sully" Sullivan (William Fichtner) for odd reason, never explain in the film. They really make Sully look like hothead, and it's sucks that he don't know, anything about him, besides that. Then, there is Michael "Bugsy" Moran (John Hawkes), a member of the Andrea Gail crew, whom all we know about him is that he fix the ice machine, and can't find dates with women. The worst coverage has to be Alfred Pierre (Allen Payne), he don't know, anything about him besides that he can't speak English, very well. Honestly, his character was really just demoted to an extra. One of the biggest faults of the film is that the film focus way too much on the sub-plot rescue missions on a down Air National Guard rescue helicopter and the sailboat Satori with characters, we barely know about. The movie shows only have focus on the events that the Andrea Gail was going through. It felt like, I was watching two different movies trying to act like one. Don't get me wrong, the Satori and the helicopter mission was interesting, but I think, the reason, most people came to see this movie was to hear the story of what happen to the Andrea Gail. It felt like it was just running the run time. Some critics had a problem with the authenticity, that the movie change a lot of what really happen. They even add some action scenes to the film, such in the case of the shark, and the hook. Most names were not changed for the fictional film, and some families of certain crew members of the Andrea Gail sued the producers because of that, and that their names were used without their permission. The movie depicted Billy Tyne and his crew as making a very conscious decision to steam into a storm that they knew was dangerous, which is up to air, but also makes them look very foolish. No wonder, why the victim family didn't like it. The movie really did have some of the best special effects at the time. It was pretty impression to watch. For a PG-13, the film does have a lot of man Vs Nature action scenes that was scary to watch, because you know it could happen. Parents need to know that this movie has some strong sailor language and some sexual references that can get crude. For most parents, the primary concern will be the sadness of the movie. Like, I said, it's a downer movie. It's not really much of a spoiler, since the movie opens with foreshadowing. The first scene of the movie shows the wall listing the fisherman lost at sea throughout the centuries after all. Even the trailer kinda spoil it. It's a tear jerking man movie, so make sure, you bring your tissue paper when watching this. Another great high light of the film is the music. James Horner is like Hans Zimmer and Danny Eflman; they all recycle old themes of theirs and they never compose a truly 'Original' Score, but every score they do compose is always phenomenal to hear, either way. This is one of those. It's just beautiful to listen to. 'Yours Forever' written by James Horner and performed by John Mellencamp is just amazing. It's one of my favorite songs on my IPOD playlist. Overall: It's an intense, real and emotional experience that just has to be watch to understand. Despite some faults, Perfect Storm is still one of my favorite movies of the early 2000s.

Review of "The Perfect Storm"The movie, "The Perfect Storm" by Wolfgang Patterson, had a different ending than what may have really happened. Facts prove that no one really knows what happened to the Andrea Gail because the search for the ship was called off. The Coast Guard called off their search after thousands of miles of searching with no sight of the boat according to the Gloucester Times web page. However, the movie needed to improvise and make closure with the audience. This movie succeeded in doing so as the image it created captivated audiences and it created a realistic ending to an event that no one knows the actual truth as to what happened. The book Perfect Storm also showed the ability to intrigue audiences. The book, written by Sebastian Junger, provided pictures of the actual fishermen that were on board, pictures of the harbor before, during and after the storm, and it provided pictures of the memorial service held for the fishermen who died. It also used an alternate ending to give the audience closure. The author and director both gain from creating an ending because they captured their audience and profited well from doing so. For example, in the movie, the boat Andrea Gail lost radio contact with another boat, from there, the crew of six men got caught up in the storm, and eventually a big wave came in and capsized the boat. This was the image the movie was able to put in viewers heads, instead of leaving the viewers with curiosity as to what really happened to the crew. Another factor that makes the movie intriguing to audiences is the choice of actors for the crew. The captain of the boat is George Clooney who is deemed to be a famous actor with prestigious roles and awards. Also Mark Walberg and John C. Riley were fishermen on the boat, and they also have a well known audience. This allowed the viewers to experience an historical event flipped into a drama containing well talented actors. I argue that the movie was a success financially and emotionally. The movie produced over $182,618,434 while in box office theatres and is still making money off of merchandise to this day. I've experienced movies that were based on true events, and they had rather subpar actors. This is where the director of The Perfect Storm, Wolfgang Petersen, profited due to having well known actors and creating a strong conclusion. Including the well known actors mentioned above, the movie also includes actors and actresses that are attractive figures for the audience. By doing this, the director profited because viewers watch movies to see great endings. The ending of the movie gave the audience different viewpoints to understand and relate to. It not only shows the struggles that the crew has to go through, but it shows the struggles that other characters had too. For example, it shows a family stuck within the storm, and it gives the audience a chance to understand their struggle. Also the Coast Guard and multiple weather stations were involved in experiencing drama of their own. Lastly, the viewpoint of the family and friends of the fisherman gave the audience a chance to experience the same sorrow and morose feelings that the family and friends had. By striking the relationship between the movie and the viewer the director succeeded. He was able to captivate emotional ties between the character's stories and the audience. The ability to do this has led this film to great awards and accomplishments. It won best visual effects in the BAFTA awards and was nominated for many other awards including the Academy Awards for visual effects and best sound. According to boxofficemojo.com, "The Perfect Storm" placed 43rd on the all time list of total gross income by movies.Overall, "The Perfect Storm" needed to show what may have truthfully happened to the crew. If the movie failed to create this image, then the audience would have been left curious and no closure would have taken place. The director, Wolfgang Petersen, did a great job in choosing the right actors, a believable conclusion, and developing a story that would leave the audience emotionally tied to the film. This led to an extremely profitable and successful film that actually did a good job of including drama.