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The Perfect Storm Details

2000 Certificate 12
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 8594 members

Based on the engrossing nonfiction work by Sebastian Junger about the Andrea Gail--a commercial swordfishing boat that was lost at sea in October 1991--Wolfgang Petersen's THE PERFECT STORM brings the pages to life. The movie features a big-name cast (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg) playing the gruff, edgy fishermen in the .. Read more

Starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, Karen Allen
Director Wolfgang Petersen
Genres Drama

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The Perfect Storm

Based on the engrossing nonfiction work by Sebastian Junger about the Andrea Gail--a commercial swordfishing boat that was lost at sea in October 1991--Wolfgang Petersen's THE PERFECT STORM brings the pages to life. The movie features a big-name cast (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg) playing the gruff, edgy fishermen in the Gloucester, Massachusetts, port, as well as close-up camera shots of the boats moored on the wintry docks. Viewers are drawn into the closely knit New England community that is struck speechless by a fierce nor'easter made from three merging hurricanes. Meteorologists call it the Perfect Storm.
Despite the weather forecast, skipper Billy Tyne (Clooney) insists that his crew go out on one more 30-day swordfishing trip before the winter sets in. At sea, a series of tragedies ensues, including a man dragged overboard by one of the 300-foot-long lines and a bloodthirsty shark that gets reeled onto the deck accidentally. What's worse, the skipper's right-hand man, Bobby Shatford (Wahlberg), is homesick for his girlfriend back onshore. But it is not until the storm finally hits and the special effects--mountainous dark digitized waves--take hold that the Andrea Gail is rendered helpless even to Coast Guard helicopters and THE PERFECT STORM's terrifying true-story tragedy becomes reality.

Starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, Karen Allen, William Fichtner, Robert Gunton, John Hawkes, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, John C. Reilly, Allen Payne, Dash Mihok, Josh Hopkins, Rusty Schwimmer, Cherry Jones
Director Wolfgang Petersen
Studio WARNER HOME VIDEO
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 9 mins
Blu-ray: 2 hrs 10 mins
Certificate Certificate 12
Collections 100 Top Thrillers
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Blu-ray: English
Dubbed German
Hearing-impaired English, German
Subtitles DVD: Danish, English, German, Icelandic, Norwegian
Released DVD: 27 Nov 2000
Blu-ray: 03 Nov 2008
Production year: 2000
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (6) of The Perfect Storm

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    This truly tempestuous drama has to be the most waterlogged film since Titanic. (Those prone to mal de mer should take sick bags along with them.) Based on a true story, it concerns the Andrea Gail, a fishing vessel that, while sailing in the North Atlantic in 1991, was caught up in the 20th century's worst storm. A stubbled George Clooney and a smooth-talking Mark Wahlberg, last seen together in Three Kings, head the crew, while director Wolfgang Petersen, who made the submarine epic Das Boot, takes a deep breath and plunges the audience in and out of skyscraper-tall waves.

    • Radio Times
  • 1 stars out of 4

    There are some astonishing visual moments here Ð notably the small boat attempting to climb an impossibly high wave Ð but the crew members, each equipped with a personal crisis to fill in the gaps between the waves, are no more than stereotypes so that th

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
  • Most helpful member's review of The Perfect Storm

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  • 9 out of 9 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars

    Deserves to sink without trace.

    The film tries to cover as much as the book it's based on (by Sebastian Junger), but spreads itself too thin. It's neither hard-core docu-drama, which the scale of the events really needs, nor personal tragedy, which a tighter script could have delivered. As it is, there are just too many events too lightly touched on, and too many characters too thinly drawn.

    And as for the special effects, CGI is still at the stage where in a PC game you'd go, 'wow this is great', but in live-action cinema CGI waves helicopters and boats just look fake. Really, I got no impression of the sheer force and terror of the seas being faced, and was left uninvolved and unmoved.

    The book, though, (same name) is a great read, and that I recommend.

      • A customer from Wales
  • Most recent members' review of The Perfect Storm

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  • 9 out of 9 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars

    Deserves to sink without trace.

    The film tries to cover as much as the book it's based on (by Sebastian Junger), but spreads itself too thin. It's neither hard-core docu-drama, which the scale of the events really needs, nor personal tragedy, which a tighter script could have delivered. As it is, there are just too many events too lightly touched on, and too many characters too thinly drawn.

    And as for the special effects, CGI is still at the stage where in a PC game you'd go, 'wow this is great', but in live-action cinema CGI waves helicopters and boats just look fake. Really, I got no impression of the sheer force and terror of the seas being faced, and was left uninvolved and unmoved.

    The book, though, (same name) is a great read, and that I recommend.

      • A customer from Wales
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    A host of Hollywood stars are to take part in a TV special to raise money for the victims of the Asian tsunami disaster. Andy Garcia, Lucy Liu and Natalie Portman have all confirmed that they will appear in the two-hour show to be broadcast in the US. And now actors Brad Pitt, Hugh Grant and Robert De Niro have also been added to the line-up. They will join numerous other film stars on the show, billed as "A Concert of Hope", during which viewers will be urged to pledge money.... Read more

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Rating breakdown

8,594 Member ratings
  • 100
350
  • 90
372
  • 80
1,074
  • 70
1,418
  • 60
2,191
  • 50
1,147
  • 40
904
  • 30
543
  • 20
394
  • 10
201

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    • Based on the engrossing nonfiction work by Sebastian Junger about the Andrea Gail--a commercial swordfishing boat that was lost at sea in October 1991--Wolfgang Petersen's THE PERFECT STORM brings ...

    • The Perfect Storm
      Based on the engrossing nonfiction work by Sebastian Junger about the Andrea Gail--a commercial swordfishing boat that was lost at sea in October 1991--Wolfgang Petersen's THE PERFECT STORM brings the pages to life. The movie features a big-name cast (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg) playing the ...