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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bluray review...Stunning transfer!, May 9, 2010
This is a review of the bluray version of the film. I will assume people know the story of this blockbuster hit about the ill-fated "Andrea Gail" during the infamous superstorm in 1991. Should you upgrade your copy of TPS to blu? OH, HELL YES! I bought this recently, having been depressed by the TERRIBLE standard definition transfer of the film. Warner Bros. tranfers on DVD had been routinely lousy (see Superman Returns) in SD. I am happy to report they redeemed themselves with this beautiful high defnition transfer that looks superbly film-like. The colors, textures, and visual effects are reproduced with astounding clarity. This is how I remember it looking in the theatre. It was a new movie experience to see it like this. The soundtrack sounds fabulous. Robust, aggressive, ambient, with terrific directionality. This is the version to own, and it's a steal at the current price (10-12 bucks). If you love the movie, you will love this transfer, and you can toss the crappy regular dvd version.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Of course it's "Hollywood," but so what?, November 24, 2000
The book version of *A Perfect Storm*, on which the movie is based, is a fascinating study of meteorology and oceanography, and people who have seen the film definitely should go back and read it if they have not already. As technically informative as the book may be, however, it would have translated into a "Nova"-type documentary film rather than a "movie" had the film producers stuck faithfully to the contents of Junger's text. Instead, producer Gail Katz and director Wolfgang Peterson (who also directed such classics as *Das Boot*) have taken the hoary Gloucestermen-gamble-and-lose theme and turned it into a spectacular action film complete with some of the finest computer-generated special effects that have appeared on the big screen in many a year. Some of the dialog and thematic material is predictable, and yes, unabashedly "Hollywood," but so what? The end product is extremely well-crafted, technically breathtaking, and thoroughly absorbing. The film is worth seeing just for the computer-created storm effects, but on top of this, the acting, direction, and editing are all first-rate. After all, don't most of us go to the movie theater with a willingness to surrender to a few cliches, as long as these are presented in a form that is powerful and entertaining? This film is definitely of the "Hollywood blockbuster" genre, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I think most other viewers will, too.
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25 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Average Movie, November 13, 2000
I wasn't one of the cynics. I wanted to see this film. I was optimistic. Heck, I even live in Rockport, the next town over from Gloucester. But this movie, except for the special effects, was awful. If you were to strip away all of the digital imagery, the alluring ocean storm, and okay acting, you would be left with a half-baked story that does not establish any basis whatsoever for respecting the protagonist(s). I, for one, was not moved by Clooney's "powerful" Act 2 climax declaration of "I always find the fish!" It was almost laughable. They were going for Scarlet's "I will never go hungry again," and they got something much, much less to put it kindly. The problem was that they were unable to mask - despite a *valiant* effort - what really happened here. A group of men made bad decision after bad decision, with money and greed as their motive, ignoring their loved one's advice, and they got themselves killed. When you strip away all the rhetoric, that's what you get. And I was literally embarrassed for Diane Lane. You know when you go to a talent show and the performer is so bad that you actually feel embarrassed for her? That's how it was with Lane. Not only the accent - I mean please - but the acting. They had her going for the Oscar in every scene, and when I was supposed to feel bad for her, I was literally chuckling and shaking my head. I have never seen such overacting in any movie, ever. Ever. And what about the "Perfect" storm? Why was it perfect? What was so amazing about it? There is almost *nothing* in the movie about the dynamics of the storm system that led to these events. Other than telling you that 3 systems are colliding, there is nothing else mentioned about the uniqueness of this situation. Had it not been for the special effects I would have given it one star. The ocean was magnificent. I'm not even going to talk about the ridiculously unrealistic events that occurred, because you expect that sort of thing in this kind of movie. But I also expected a few other things: Related storylines, believable characters, LIKEABLE characters, and decent acting. In these areas, the film is wanting.
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