The Perfect Storm [HD DVD]

The Perfect Storm [HD DVD]
by Wolfgang Petersen

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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Diane Lane, George Clooney, John C. Reilly, Mark Wahlberg, William Fichtner
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 130 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-06
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video

Movie Reviews of The Perfect Storm [HD DVD]

Movie Review: See the movie
Summary: 5 Stars

I felt like this movie did a lot of typical things movies of this sort do: bad things are going to happen to these plucky guys, so let's give you some back story so you sympathize with them. Some of the back story in this movie was pretty cheesy. The movie picks up once the storm rolls in, but the weather guy at the TV station in Boston commenting on the meteorology to bring you along was pretty cheesy, too. Everyone has a pretty good idea how this ends up, but I'll try not to spoil it. There is a pretty good side story with a Coast Guard ship and an Air Force Reserve helicopter. The movie condenses down a couple of stories from the book, and takes some other liberties that have made other viewers skeptical about this plot. Yes, the Air Force helicopter really went out on a rescue in the storm, and it did in-flight refueling, although the helicopter's mission didn't have to do with the Andrea Gail. The rest of the helicopter's story is pretty much portrayed correctly. Usually when I've seen a fair to good movie based on the book, I'll find that the book is definitely worth reading, and that was the case here. As is also usually the case, I'm glad I saw the movie first.

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Summary of The Perfect Storm [HD DVD]

Warner Brothers The Perfect Storm - HD DVD
It's 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. Based on the true-life best selling novel by Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg,Diane Lane and is directed by Wolfgang Petersen.

Setting out for the one last catch that will make up for a lackluster fishing season, Captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney) pushes his boat the Andrea Gail out to the waters of the Flemish Cap off Nova Scotia for what will be a huge swordfish haul. While his crew is gathering fish, three storm fronts (including a hurricane) collide to create a "perfect storm" of colossal force, and Billy's path back to Gloucester, Massachusetts, takes them right smack into the middle of it. Wolfgang Petersen's adaptation of Sebastian Junger's seafaring bestseller is a faithful if by-the-numbers true-story account of a monster storm that rocked New England in 1991, specifically Tyne's commercial fishing boat and its crew. Junger's tale fashioned a compelling if staid narrative out of seemingly disparate events, but this film adaptation tends to flatten out the story into a conventional if absorbing story of man vs. nature, as the crew fights for survival against the awesome waves the storm kicks up. The central part of the film, which cuts between the Andrea Gail's fight to stay afloat and the attempts of the Coast Guard to rescue a yacht in peril, is suspenseful action of the first degree, aided by some awesome computer-generated waves.

Still, it's a long way to that action, with an extended first act that consists mainly of stoic men, crying women, and a fair amount of "don't go out into the sea" dialogue--in other words, a compelling story has been shoehorned into standard summer movie fare. It's too bad, as Peterson assembled an excellent cast--including Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, John C. Reilly, and William Fichtner among them--but seems to opt for only a surface exploration of these characters, though Clooney seems to have a touch of Captain Ahab in him. You may still be won over by the movie, but for a more in-depth portrait, go to Junger's book for the missing details. --Mark Englehart

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