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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