On the Beach
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Movie Reviews of On the Beach
Movie Review: Well-done tale of the End of the World.
Summary: 5 Stars
I read Nevil Shute's book several years ago and thought it amazing. Recently, when culling some books from my bookshelves, I re-read it once again one afternoon. When I read the book the first time, I didn't even know of this classic film. However, I had learned of it since I reading the book the last time, so I ordered this film and, of course, the classic with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner.
The cast here was wonderful. The only exception to this was Armand Assante's performance here. I used to think Assante was superb- an underrated wonderful actor I didn't get to see too much. Here, though, he sounded an awful lot like Rocky Balboa. I guess that's okay-- I mean, there are Submarine Commanders that can sound like Rocky Balboa but, sometimes, it was off-putting. Other than that, he was good and still very likable.
Rachel Ward's performance was good. I think her character was probably the most difficult to play (as was Ava Gardner's in the first movie). Her character had to be brash, wild, remorseful, drunk, sad, smart, lonely, and regretful while still remaining empathetic. She did succeed but, like Ava Gardner before her, I found myself critiquing her performance rather than getting completely lost in the movie. Still, she did do a very good job and never went over the edge into parody (which could have been easy to do).
The young Australian couple (Mark Pennell and a young woman whose name escapes me) were perfect. They played their roles with remarkable depth and were probably the best of the bunch.
The story is truly staggering. Taking place in Australia, the citizens are the last known society waiting for imminent death by radioactive fallout which is slowly moving across the earth. Everyone else is dead and they, too, will be dead soon. This film is about how this small group of people spend their last months.
(Shute's book is not perfectly written. I remember he calls the baby "it" so many times it was a bit disturbing. Parents don't refer to the baby as "it" too many times after he or she is born! However, certain characters and the story itself are so memorable, despite the book's flaws, that it is a must-read.)
This movie is wholeheartedly recommended. Especially if you are sharing it with your (older) children, I think they'd be more interested in this version than the older one. There are little changes from the book to the movie that seem to work here but were truly astounding in the book. The most important change, I think, is how Captain Towers dealt with his family's believed demise. In the book, Towers spoke of them as if they were still alive-- so horrid was the consideration of anything else. Moira, towards the end, found purpose in helping him perpetuate this belief and found the purpose she was looking for in doing this. Here, though, Captain Towers deals with it a bit more realistically. The choice the filmmakers made here was the weaker choice, in my opinion.
They did make some good choices, too, though- a lot of them. In this film, we see the cast members getting sick (with the notable exception of Assante's and Ward's characters-- they still look like movie stars). And, it works here. It's not so we get disgusted. It works on a human level-- not as a special effects "gross out". We are supposed to be appalled at what radiation can do and we are. Additionally, we see more city scenes-- how the city is changing over the last few months-- we see a quite civilized society change as the end nears. This definitely makes what's happening more believable.
Some people may take issue with the major ending change for Captain Towers and Moira. I do, too, I guess. But, I do think this ending is more believable than the book's ending and is a teeny bit of brightness in an otherwise totally horrific situation.
I wound up watching both this movie and the original within the same two weeks. Honestly, this film was better with the exception of Armand Assante's performance (which was good, but not of Peck's caliber.). Both are worth seeing. If you can take two stories about Armageddon, order both these films.
Movie Review: BEGINS AFTER THE END FOR MOST OF THE REST OF THE WORLD
Summary: 5 Stars
THE RE-MAKE OF "ON THE BEACH"
This film though very similar to the original 1959 version is modernized and due to its extended length allows for the much needed characterizations.
WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT:
The film begins on the Australian coast after THE END, for most of the rest of the world. The American Nuclear submarine with Armand Assante at the helm as Captain Dwight Towers, surfaces and is promptly greeted by angry beer-can tossing Aussie boaters. Basically, this is the high point of hope for the characters in this film, as there are no friendly ports left alive on the Earth for our home-sick submariners.
However, the focus of the film is not on the submariners or the war as both are basically finished. Instead, Captain Towers is the focal point, and his odyssey has only begun. But this is a world where everyone is an orphan or will be and Towers is no exception, as his wife and children are gone. Everyone outside of Australia is gone!
In the course of a last mission for hope, Towers meets Rachel Ward who plays Moira Davidson, on his brief respite at his Austalian naval liason's home. This introduces the human element to the trajedy of global thermonuclear warfare, as we see people, real people, from many walks of life on there way to final total despair.
A LAST CHANCE - - - MAYBE????
BUT . . . There is a last ditch mission of hope for the soon to be doomed Austalian survivors, and that is where the tension comes from, as we await humankinds verdict. It is one last mission for the sub and its crew who now includes Bryan Brown as scientist Julian Osborne and the Aussie naval liason officer. It will take a month, and no one will know the outcome until the submarine checks things out in Alaska, which is quite a trek from Melbourne, Austalia, and then returns. That's what "ON THE BEACH" is all about! THE VERDICT, and how humankind in general and these people specifically deal with the inevitable and all that comes with it.
POWER OF THE FILM AND TOPIC:
Like many others, I found myself thinking constantly about what I would do if I were this character or that. My mind jumped about quite a bit from character to character trying on each one's unique but identical set of issues and problems. Removed as I was, I tried to resolve the situation for many of them, without any satisfactory results. Sadly, that's it in a nutshell. This is an anti-war saga which tells its story by showing for the most part rather than telling, which makes it quite powerful as an instigator of emotional responses in most people, including myself.
OTHER RECOMMENDED FILMS:
This is an excellent though disturbing film along the lines of, "Testament", "The Day After", "By Dawn Early Light" and many others, but the scope and focus of this film is entirely unique, just like the excellent but too short original "On The Beach" from 1959. It seems as though if "7 DAYS IN MAY" by John Frankenheimer were a true story, and ended with a military coup, this version of "ON THE BEACH" may have been the real-life sequel to it. This is very powerful, gut-wrenching fiction, so be in the right frame of mind for it when you see it.
ABOUT THE DVD:
Okay, it has no features whatsoever, but the transfer was fine and widescreen, which makes it a welcome improvement over the old VHS.
Movie Review: THERE IS STILL TIME
Summary: 5 Stars
Forget about science fiction films aimed at prepubescent audiences like "Alien vs. Predator". If you want to see something geniunely chilling, watch "On the Beach".
This Showtime mini-series is an updated 2000 remake of Stanley Kramer's "On the Beach". That 1959 film featured Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire. This 2000 version has Armand Assante, Rachel Ward, and Bryan Brown taking the Peck, Gardner and Astaire roles, respectively.
Like the original, the remake is something that incorporates most of the main story elements from the novel of the same name by Australian author Nevil Shute, and stays true to its anti-nuke theme. Even though the original was a great film in its own right, the remake is an excellent, stand alone piece.
The story in a nutshell: Sometime in the near future, a nuclear conflict between China and the United States takes place, leaving only Australia in its wake. Billions have been killed. As the story opens, we learn that all human life in the Northern Hemisphere is assumed to be dead. The extinction of the human race is a probability, which stands in the path of masive nuclear fallout, which is gradually making its way to Australia.
A small crew aboard a U.S. Navy submarine led by Commander Dwight Towers (Aramande Assante) manages to survive the apocalypse. When they arrive in Australia, the crew of the U.S. vessel see that anarchy and chaos are taking over as death-driven angst builds on Melbourne's streets.
Even though nuclear physicist Julian Osborne, (Bryan Brown), says the country is at doomsday, it isn't long before Towers volunteers himself and his crew in a desperate attempt to salvage what remains of life on earth. However, before Towers and his crew embark on this mission, Moira Davidson, (Rachel Ward) appears on the scene with a mission of her own that involves Towers, much to the chagrin of Osborne.
At three hours running time, this production feels a little long. Better to watch in two sittings, not one. Otherwise, the production is excellent, and the quality of the dvd is also excellent. The only problem I had with picture quality is that during the Anchorage sequence, the my copy of the dvd kept going from color to black and white. This wasn't intentional - just some flaw in production.
Rachel Ward is the scene stealer in this remake, much like Ava Gardner was in the original, but then both are, or were, stunningly beautiful women. As Towers, Assante's portrayal of the submarine captain is fine, but there just isn't really any chemistry between himself and Ward. In portions of the film, his acting seems a little wooden. And although I've never really cared for Brown as an actor, he does a good job in his portrayal of Osborne.
Even on a small screen, the panoramic cinematography is notable in parts. During some portions of "On the Beach", I found myself wishing for a larger screen.
I gave this remake of "On the Beach" five stars, but it's not something I'd want to see again and again, because the story itself is more than a little disconcerting. But I would imagine that feeling probably was Shute's intended response, anyway.
Movie Review: Really hit home
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie about Nuclear Holocaust on TV and being a sucker for any mini-series I watched. I have to admit that this movie made in Australia, cast my favorite actors from the 80's in the title roles: Armand Assante, Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward. Updated from the 60's version with Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck; it deals realistically with the Australian survivors who watch as the inevitable radiation and nuclear winter from war between the US and China slowly creeps painfully towards them.
Armand Assante is the captain of a stranded US nuclear submarine, the last surviving Americans, and is a man determined to keep his crew's sanity for as long as possible while privately struggling and grieving the loss of his own family. Assante achieves the right amount of passion and restraint in this role. The the first segment begins as the sub and crew who have made it to Australia to wait out the last days, accept the order to sail to Alaska, investigating a satellite signal that theoretically offers the chance that survivability for a few might be possible in the northern hemisphere. The sub's crew and their stories remind us that wars are fought by the brave young, who must act mature beyond their years, held together by duty as well as the love of their commander and friends. Assante's character is at first attracted but guarded to Rachel Ward's flailing character. Keeping her from spiraling into madness, he lets go of his past and guides them both into a calm space to spend their moments together in the present; relinquish their future, and allow her to bravely face death. Bryan Brown plays a rake-ish, practical, brilliant scientist and former lover of Ward's, who stubbornly and accurately predicts the demise of what's left of mankind. Reviled by the optimists in the Australian military, Brown gives a brillant, right on performance in oposition to Assante's stiff commander/ suitor for Ward. He's an actor we don't see enough unfortunately. The roles of the young Australian officer sent with the sub to investigate (played in the original movie by Anthony Perkins) with his young wife and daughter, commiting family suicide to stave off a slow death by radiation, was so gut wrenching I had a hard time watching it again when I bought the video.
As the sub returns home carrying the news that human civilization is over, we see the panic and torture of a slow death by nuclear penalty. The reality of the final segment, beyond any obvious conclusions, might be that death by quick obliteration could be a better end than the choice left to those who escape it.
Movie Review: On The Beach: A Brilliant Tele-Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I have watched On The Beach 6 times and have ended up tearing up at the end each time. The movie which was initially created as a 3.5 TV Mini-Series and was nominated for Golden Globe - which would have been well deserved - is a joint Australian and American production that has all the good and bad parts of what makes us human in the movie. This movie is the best movie I have watched to date. I first watched 'On The Beach' on Australian television with my mum and step-dad and this movie touched me in a way no other movie has ever. Everything about this movie is brilliant. It's a movie that doesn't have a happy ending and a movie that makes the viewer think. The integral message and the theme of the movie is anti nuclear and poses many interesting self requesting questions like "How would I react to this situation or "What would I do if I knew I had a short period of life left?"
Bryan Brown who plays Julian Osborne a scientist is a great Australian actor who is well established and has great acting skill and polishes off this performance with pure excellence. His acting is superb.
Rachel Ward another great Australian actress plays Moira Davidson and is a show stealer...she has such a aplomb on the screen and her character goes through so many changes and emotions through the movie.
But my favourite character is Commander Dwight Towers who is played by Armand Assante who is such an accomplished actor and plays the role of the head actor with so much emotion. Two other Australian actors also have big roles in the movie and are secondary characters to the three mentioned. All up through and through, the acting is excellent and the casting has been well picked.
The movie is long and to completely and fully tell the story of a world winding down and a civilization falling apart as well as tell the stories of each character and their interactions together and to the situation on hand the length of the movie was warranted.
'On The Beach' is adapted from Neville Shute's novel and is directed to the screen by Russel Mulcahy. My word of advice for any reader who will watch this movie is to have a box of tissues for the ending is a tear jerker.
This movie portrays the ending of humanity after China and the USA go to war and the war turns into a full nuclear exchange. There is alot of course language. The soundtrack within this movie is has great as the actual movie.
If I could I would give the movie 10/10.