After a boring fishing season, Captain Billy Tyne played by George Clooney set out for the one final catch that can make up for it. Tyne forces his boat through the waves of the Flemish Cap off Nova Scotia, knowing nothing about the horrific weather conditions that he and his crew will face by doing so. Three storm fronts are drawn to each other and created a “perfect storm”, so powerful that Billy’s return path to Gloucester, Massachusetts just throws them into the face of the storm. Based on a true story about a monstrous storm that hit New England in 1991 and published as a book by Sebastian Junger, director Wolfgang Petersen had a lot to work with directing The Perfect Storm. Junger’s story made a believable if restrained of what looks like different events, but the film’s adaptation more likely flatten out the tale into a absorbing if conventional story of man versus nature, as the Andrea Gail’s crew pushes itself to survive the humongous waves that storm causes. The climax of the film, which cuts between the efforts of the Coast Guard to rescue a ship in danger, and The Andrea Gail’s fight to remain afloat, brings thrilling action of the highest degree, added with gorgeous waves generated by a computer.
The Perfect Storm however, is a convincing story shoehorned into a regular summer movie fare, lacking the extended main act of calm men, crying women, and a relative amount of “don’t go out to sea” dialogues; which is truly a waste of talent in some point as Petersen succeeded in putting together an excellent cast including John C. Reilly, William Fichtner, Mark Wahlberg, and Diane Lane. It was only Clooney that seemed to have a touch of Captain Ahab in him. If you desire to have the full picture of the plot, refer to the book by Junger, but this film may still win you over.
–Mark Englehart