'The Perfect Storm' blows up gale force thrills

'The Perfect Storm' blows up gale force thrills

By Joko E.W. Anwar

JAKARTA (JP): The Perfect Storm serves as a respectable
disaster film among those based on actual events, where the drama
about the making of heroes of some and victims of others can
match the vivid details of the catastrophe itself.

In October 1991, a rare combination of weather phenomena with
virtually no warning whipped up huge waves and winds over 120
miles per hour, and caused rain so intense in the North Atlantic
that meteorologists dubbed it the "perfect storm".

A group of six fishermen aboard the Andrea Gail set out to sea
from the port of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to catch swordfish --
and unwittingly headed straight into the storm.

With families and relatives praying together on the shore for
their loved ones' safety, several men in rescue vessels and
helicopters risked their lives to save those caught in the middle
of the biggest storm of the century.

Director Wolfgang Petersen succeeds in recreating the event,
especially when portraying the sheer terror of being caught in a
furious sea.

Petersen, who directed the great World War II underwater drama
Das Boot, really knows how to capture a claustrophobic nightmare
in the ocean.

The perfect combination of Industrial Light & Magic's computer
groundbreaking wizardry and enormous sets (including the largest
sound-stage tank in film history) brings the destructive torrents
of water to life.

The film also used a full-scale replica of the Andrea Gail
attached to motion-inducing gimbals.

One of the fine spectacles in the film is the swordfishing,
which used four swordfish animatronics. They were made by Walt
Conti at Edge Innovations, who built the ferocious sharks in Deep
Blue Sea and the gigantic Anaconda.

In the drama department, the film provides a lot of the
background story to the main event, explaining the motivations of
the Andrea Gail men to sail beyond their usual fishing territory.

Billy Tyne, played by George Clooney, is the captain of the
boat who has lost his sense of where the fish are to be found.

A fisherman all his life, Tyne is determined to land a big
catch.

The rest of the crew are a bunch of likable folks. Among them
are the divorced Murph (John C. Reilly), who is doing his best to
support his son and estranged wife, and Bugsy (John Hawkes), a
man who just wants to have someone to come home to.

There are good performances all round, including from Rusty
Schwimmer in a small role as Irene, a woman who finally gives a
little love to Bugsy.

Clooney manages to radiate his usual screen persona without
being overbearing, thanks to the screenplay by Bill Wittliff, who
also wrote Legends of the Fall.

The film was based on a bestseller, with nearly 3.5 million
copies in print in the United States alone, written by Sebastian
Junger (the author, who reportedly did a lot of research to write
the book, founded The Perfect Storm Foundation, which is meant to
give a chance to young people from Gloucester, the oldest fishing
industry town in the United States, to have the choice to seek
jobs outside the area).

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio makes her acting return to the sea
after her marvelous performance in James Cameron's underwater
adventure The Abyss in 1989. She plays a friendly rival to Billy
Tyne, another fishing boat captain who always gets the big catch.

The predisaster scenes work nicely to bring audiences to the
spectacle and the film thankfully avoids melodrama (although it
flirts with it in a tear-jerking scene between Murph and his
son).

The effects are spectacular; when the waves arrive on the
screen, audiences will hang on to their seats as if they were
there in the water.

Unfortunately, the film is not without flaws.

The interaction of scenes on the Andrea Gail and the cruise
ship Satori which was also caught in the storm seems disjointed.

There is also more than a little irritation from the
speculation about what actually happened on the Andrea Gail, an
element which was reportedly not part of the book.

The touch of authenticity comes from the subplot involving the
Cost Guard cutter Tamaroa and the H-3 rescue helicopter which
lost a crew member at sea during the rescue.

The segment including rescue team members jumping into the
water with zero visibility is so gripping the story almost shifts
its focus to them.

It is a relief that The Perfect Storm does not exploit a true
disaster story which cost human lives by attempting to glamorize
it for audiences.

The most recent offender on this front was the hugely
successful disaster-at-sea Titanic. Audiences almost clapped when
hundreds of people fell from the deck in the concluding scenes,
thanks to the superb special effects which overlooked the very
real human element of the drama. Thankfully, The Perfect Storm
does not forget the human tragedy.