Perfect Storm (2000)

"...this is exciting stuff.  Desson Thomson, Washington Post
"This is one perfectly terrifying movie, an instant classic.  Lou Lumenick, New York Post
"Nearly a perfect film, from its bold and epic man-vs.-nature conflict to the breathless scripting, editing, acting, and direction.  Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
"Super suspenseful and terrifying. Titanic and Jaws combined.  Pia Lindstrom, Fox-TV
"Nothing short of thrilling. Excellent story and special effects.  Sam Rubin, KTLA-TV
"Accomplishes a delicate balancing act, that of entertaining the audience with the thrills and adventure of the Andrea Gail's final journey.  Ann Hornaday, Baltimore Sun
""Titanic'' was a case of a cheeseball story riding terrific effects. "The Perfect Storm" is in every important way deeper.  Jay Carr, Boston Globe
"Scary and exciting.  Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader

Editor's Note Based on the engrossing nonfiction work by Sebastian Junger about the Andrea Gail--a commercial swordfishing boat that was lost at sea in October 1991--Wolfgang Petersen's THE PERFECT STORM brings the pages to life. The movie features a big-name cast (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg) playing the gruff, edgy fishermen in the Gloucester, Massachusetts, port, as well as close-up camera shots of the boats moored on the wintry docks. Viewers are drawn into the closely knit New England community that is struck speechless by a fierce nor'easter made from three merging hurricanes. Meteorologists call it the Perfect Storm. Despite the weather forecast, skipper Billy Tyne (Clooney) insists that his crew go out on one more 30-day swordfishing trip before the winter sets in. At sea, a series of tragedies ensues, including a man dragged overboard by one of the 300-foot-long lines and a bloodthirsty shark that gets reeled onto the deck accidentally. What's worse, the skipper's right-hand man, Bobby Shatford (Wahlberg), is homesick for his girlfriend back onshore. But it is not until the storm finally hits and the special effects--mountainous dark digitized waves--take hold that the Andrea Gail is rendered helpless even to Coast Guard helicopters and THE PERFECT STORM's terrifying true-story tragedy becomes reality.

	Diane Lane
	George Clooney
	John C. Reilly
	Mark Wahlberg
	Duncan Henderson - Executive Producer
	Gail Katz - Producer
	John Seale - Cinematographer
	Ken Tamplin - Original Music By
	Richard Francis-Bruce - Editor
	Sebastian Junger - Based On Novel By
	William D. Wittliff - Screenplay
	Wolfgang Petersen - Director

It is Halloween, 1991. Near Gloucester, Massachusetts, the six members of the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing boat, head out to sea for their last trip of the season. Unbeknownst to them, a shockingly brutal storm is slowly gaining steam. Before the National Weather Bureau has a chance to inform the crew of the impending danger, it's too late. The resulting battle with three merging weather fronts--an unheralded natural disaster--is grueling and tragic. Wolfgang Petersen (DAS BOOT) turns the action notch up a level with THE PERFECT STORM, a thrilling film that was based on actual events. New York Times
"...[A] gusty oceanic epic..." 06/30/2000 pp.E1-E14

Sight and Sound
"...A harrowing nautical adventure driven by dazzling special effects..." 09/01/2000 p.48

Total Film
"...Its action sequences make for a truly awe-inspiring spectacle..." 08/01/2000 p.82

Premiere
"...Rent it for that final wave..." -- 3 out of 5 stars -- A Satisfying Rental 12/01/2000 p.98

Entertainment Weekly
"Along with TITANIC, Wolfgang Petersen's hurricane tragedy is a disaster-movie rarity: the true story." 06/04/2004 p.35

ReelViews 8 of 10
Given that I believed The Perfect Storm to be unfilmable, I approached the motion picture with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism. I was pleasantly surprised by the result. The movie is as faithful to the novel as a non-documentary could be, sticking close to the facts and excising few of the book's numerous subplots. Much of the detailed scientific jargon has been removed, but enough remains that we understand exactly what is happening and what it portends. And the sense of danger and urgency that compels a viewer to turn the pages of Junger's book is much in evidence throughout the 128-minute film...The movie is at its best when it stays with the crew of the Andrea Gail, which it does most of the time. The opening half-hour, before the ship sails, does a good job introducing the characters and letting us know what makes them tick. The only piece of character interaction that isn't effective is the bickering between Murph and Sully (which leads to more than one passage of badly written dialogue)...The movie is exciting, engaging, and, at times, majestic, but it does not change the historical facts to make for a more crowd-pleasing story. For the first time since Das Boot, Petersen has taken his cast, crew, and cameras back into the water; the result is definitely not all wet. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
"The Perfect Storm" is a well-crafted example of a film of pure sensation. It is about ships tossed by a violent storm. The film doesn't have complex and involving characters, but they are not needed. It doesn't tell a sophisticated story and doesn't need to; the main events are known to most of the audience before the movie begins. All depends on the storm. I do not mind admitting I was enthralled...The movie, based on the best-seller by Sebastian Junger, is mostly about a fishing ship named the Andrea Gail, out of Gloucester, Mass., which had the misfortune in 1991 of running into "the middle of the monster" when three great storm systems collided in the Atlantic. We learn about the economic pressures of the swordfishing industry, we meet the crew members and their women, we learn a little of their stories, and then the film is about the ship, the storm and the people waiting in port for news...We know intellectually that we're viewing special effects. Tanks and wind machines are involved, and computer graphics and models. This is not important. The impetus of the story drives us forward, and by the end of the film I was wrung out. It's possible to criticize the sketchy characters, but pointless. The movie is about the appalling experience of fighting for your life in a small boat in a big storm. If that is what you want to see, you will see it done here about as well as it can be done. - Roger Ebert