It Begins

So far so good for my prophecy of a strong finish to the year in movies. I caught two over the holiday weekend...

I got hooked into this movie early on, not so much from the fact that the action starts right away but because I quickly liked the lead characters played by Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Your opinion of the movie will probably be shaped by how you feel about them as well, because the plot certainly isn't a mystery. The trajectory of the story is pretty obvious from early on, even if you haven't seen the trailers. The real trick is that the movie is still able to stay suspenseful and tense. In addition to the leading performances, Ben Foster is memorable as Crowe's 2nd in command. The dialogue is strong, and there are some cool action sequences. My only complaint is with the finale, in which believability flies out the window in far too many ways. But this wasn't enough to rob me of my overall enjoyment of the movie.


IMDB lists the year of this film as 2006, so I am not sure if the film has already played on the other side of the pond ages ago, but it was recently released in L.A. "Deep Water" tells the story of Donald Chowhurst, an amateur sailor who entered a race in 1968 to be the first man to sail around the world alone without stopping. I knew nothing about what would happen next before seeing the film, and I highly recommend being as ignorant as I was if at all possible. One of the great strengths of the movie is the deliberate manner of revealing plot progression and character development in a most suspenseful manner. There is also a wide scope of human emotions powerfully captured in the tight 90-minute movie. The filmmakers make great use of all sorts of media to keep the storytelling varied and engaging. But most importantly, Donald Chowhurst is a compelling figure, the kind of guy who would clearly capture the fascination of Werner Herzog. I really enjoyed "Deep Water", and would also love to see a Herzog dramatization somewhere down the road.