Monday, May 20, 2013


My Redbox recommendation... 

THE IMPOSSIBLE


Just out on DVD and worth watching, if you missed it in theaters. OK, right off the bat – what the fuck is that title all about? I watched this with great anticipation, fully expecting to enjoy two of my favorite actors – Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor, but, other than the first act disaster, didn't see anything really impossible in the next hour or so.

This is about the worst natural disaster of the last decade, the Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean. (For us Americans, Boxing Day is December 26.) I didn't know then that Indonesia and Thailand were ringed with ocean front hotels catering to Europeans seeking winter sun and fun. And so it is with our happy Brit couple and their three, suitably adorable, sons.

They arrive on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day they open presents and release floating luminaries over the bay. By Boxing Day, they’re lounging poolside taking a big bite out of the relaxation afforded by holidays spent in the tropics. Then all hell breaks loose. This part of the globe had been woefully unprepared for an event of this nature so there are no sirens or warnings. In fact, more than 350,000 people are thought to have lost their lives in the deluge. Our featured family doesn't even experience the mega-lift earthquake that sets off the big waves. One moment, they’re peacefully enjoying the sun the next they’re fighting for their lives.

 The Impossible

The rest of the film is all about the injuries they sustain and the quest to be reunited. Watts and the oldest son seem to get swept over into the least developed part of the resort. They end up relying on simple villagers, who seem to have sustained little damage, who get them to the hospital. Here, Tom Holland, as the oldest son, really shines in a part that will no doubt lead to bigger things for the young actor.  All of the emotion of loss and desperation play out through his eyes as the rest of the cast takes on lesser roles.

Will the mother survive her wounds? Will the family be reunited?  This is the kind of movie the entire family can gather together to watch. There’s some realistic language and the youngest members of the family might be upset by the initial disaster and follow up turmoil. My only real criticism is that clean, middle-class folks get airlifted out of danger courtesy of numerous responding military operations, but the locals are pretty much stuck putting their meager lives back together. Perhaps these people, in reality, got assistance at some point, but their needs obviously took a back seat to the tourists.

Good special effects and a great cast make The Impossible a nice way to spend an evening and for that I’ll give it two Wilders out of four.  But I dare any of you to explain to me what the hell the title is all about.



  


This weeks Overlooked Film of Significance:  Beginners – Ewan McGregor contends with an aging father's illness as well as his surprising new lifestyle. Christopher Plummer got a well-deserved Oscar nom playing the dad.

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