[yasr_overall_rating]
Based on the true story of survival, a young couple’s chance encounter leads them first to love, and then on the adventure of a lifetime as they face one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history.
Director Baltasar Kormákur’s high-altitude blockbuster “Everest” suffered from a fatal flaw: it lacked visceral thrills. The film was so by the book, its predictability failed to incite any semblance of suspense or, for that matter, vertigo – quite the feat for a film whose focal point is scaling the titular summit. Tom Cruise jumping out of the Burj Khalifa in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” evoked more chills than Kormákur’s frosty thriller.
Now, with “Adrift,” the Icelandic filmmaker turns his attention to another survival story, a true one, this time set in the unforgiving terrain of a majestic ocean. But how do you top, or at least match, all the cinematic at-sea survival tales that came before? There’s the heartbreak of “Castaway,” the visual splendor of “Life of Pi,” and the “you are there” minutiae of “All Is Lost,” just to name three relatively recent ones. The Icelandic filmmaker set himself quite the task. Alas, the same fate befalls “Adrift” that befell “Everest.” Only “Everest” had, like, 15 stars in it. “Adrift” has one, Shailene Woodley, and she valiantly tries to carry the film on her sunburnt shoulders. Unfortunately, she, like her character, has next-to-nothing to work with.
The script – by three screenwriters – provides her with such a clichéd backstory, revealed in expository outbursts, that the wisdom in her eyes and the shallowness of her character proves to be a major mismatch, like casting someone like Rooney Mara to play Barbie. Speaking of mismatches, there’s next-to-no chemistry between Woodley and her co-star Sam Claflin, his character an empty shell, a dreamer with no ambition or compelling – scratch that – discernible background to speak of. Why the audience is supposed to root for these characters, or especially care if feelings blossom between them as they attempt to describe the different hues of sunsets, is beyond explanation.
The story in a nutshell: Tami (Woodley) is a rebellious 20-something, living life on the edge (but really escaping her past) in Tahiti until her eyes lock with Richard’s (Claflin), an equally-rebellious hunk. It’s love at first sight, so nauseating it’ll overpower the oil substitute in your popcorn. When a couple of elderly rich folks offer him $10,000 to take their yacht to San Diego – a 30-day journey – he promptly says yes and takes Tami along for the ride. The storm hits. The two are left adrift for well over a month.
Don’t get me wrong, I love survival stories. Humans reaching the limit of their physical and emotional threshold is a wonderful theme to explore. Yet “Adrift” neatly sidesteps any psychological intensity. Save for a few moments of blistered skin, unimaginative hallucinations and icky close-ups of a rotting shin, “Adrift” proves to be as boring as it must’ve been for Tami on that wrecked boat. For one, there’s barely ever a food or water shortage. Tami keeps magically discovering beers and snacks in the cabin. When they do start running out of food and Richard suggests she goes fishing, the vegetarian Tami actually says she doesn’t want to see the fish suffer. A resolute adherence to one’s beliefs? Or sheer stupidity? Treading a thin line here, folks.
Sure, the cinematography by the great Robert Richardson is painterly and vivid. Sure, some of the action scenes are okay – when we do get to glimpse them, as the film cuts away annoyingly just when things pick up. And Woodley, bless her bikini-d heart, does her best, despite the threat of being overacted by her own nipples, who make very frequent appearances. Too bad none of that, including the nipples, can save the film from the lovey-dovey Nicholas Sparks crap. “Adrift” adheres to every cliché in the pantheon of survival stories. The so-called twist towards the end is not only predictable, it’s (SPOILER ALERT) revealed in the very first shot of the film! Double-u. Tee. Eff.
The lackluster nature of “Adrift” is especially odd, considering Kormákur directed the impressive “The Deep” in 2012. Read Tami Oldham Ashcraft’s memoir ‘Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea’ instead – or even better, go sailing. It’s fun. Tami still does it.
In theaters Friday, June 1st
