Admittedly, the special effects are more impressive on the big screen. And in the end, special effects are the siren call of the film. Nobody came to see tears roll down the face of Diane Lane. They wanted to gaze at the title character, The Perfect Storm.
But great action and adventure films hold up well on the small screen. Star Wars, for example, looks great in the theaters, but has a compelling story that makes repeated home viewing possible. Anyone with a DVD of The Perfect Storm will be flipping through early scenes to get to the "Andrea Gail" battling the waves. These scenes won't satisy either, since they are essentially watching an Industrial Light & Magic production.
If The Perfect Storm was better in theaters due to its special effects, then the film would be further improved if the fire sprinklers were turned on, and if patrons were doused with buckets of cold saltwater by ushers.
An action film succeeds when it generates suspense for a confrontation. The confrontation itself may only last a few minutes. Getting there is the more important journey.
In this respect, The Perfect Storm is a failure. First, human interest is laboriously and tediously constructed. Every man on the "Andrea Gail" is given motivation to return safe, predominantly in the form of a waiting woman. Most of these woman are very attractive. As the odd man out, poor Bugsy (John Hawkes) has to settle for a hardened and burly woman, but even he can stoke the home fires burning.
If these comments seem overly cynical, I am merely describing how the Hollywood formula has framed the first hour. It's like watching the Olympics on television. Eventually, you get tired of watching endless carefully crafted human interest stories on the athletes, especially when the events themselves should be the true focus.
Although based on a true story, none of the characters or incidents really seem genuine. Most likely, the "Andrea Gail" sank early, at the at the same time radio contact was lost. The Coast Guard helicopters came later, and found nothing because the boat was already lost. Hollywood prefers a different scenario, because false drama is more uplifting than mere waste and futility.
The Perfect Storm further errs by diluting the main storyline with two secondary subplots. The first features heroic Karen Allen, whose pleasure cruise with an older millionaire goes awry with the weather. The second subplot stars heroic Coast Guard members risking their lives to rescue stricken sailors. The problem with both of these stories is that the focus belongs with the "Andrea Gail."
German director Wolfgang Petersen won deserved acclaim for his 1981 U-boat epic Das Boot. His breakthrough film opened the door to a successful career in Hollywood with big budget action films. But Das Boot is similar to The Perfect Storm only in its tragic ending and nautical theme. The former film provides suspense in a few sonar pings than the latter film makes in an hour of lashing seas. But Petersen cannot really be blamed, as it is the Hollywood system itself that sinks The Perfect Storm. (34/100)
Visit me at filmsgraded.com