The inspiring true story of two free spirits who found each other by chance when travelling around the world, which led them on an adventure of a lifetime, setting sail across the ocean. But it wasn't all to go to plan when they sailed directly into one of the worst hurricanes in recorded history.
Tami and Richard just seemed to be made for each other, both escaping the lives they used to have and knew to find happiness in different parts of the world. That was all pretty impressive in all honesty. Something which I think sets the film up very well in terms of caring about the characters.
I loved the format of the film as well starting with the storm and boat being wrecked then flashing back to events which happened in the build up to being on that boat and sailing. We get to know both of the characters and it really does tug at your heart-strings so many times throughout. I cannot help but hold my breath at times when watching water scenes, which I guess is a pretty powerful part of this film. Being adrift and in the middle of the sea is not a good combination at all.
I know this is based on a true story but we have had quite a few of this type of film in recent years. We have already had The Mercy with Colin Firth this year, so I guess we needed one with a female character in and leading it right? I just think we could have had a little more time between the two films which raise some of the same issues from start to finish. It also makes me realise that if you have no idea how to sail you wouldn't even last a couple of days if you ended up adrift.
Shailene Woodley is in the leading role as Tami and in all honesty I am still very much unsure about her acting ability. I have seen a lot of her roles and fail to see much depth in her acting and I was hoping that this film would change my opinion but that certainly was not the case I am afraid. Sam Claflin seems to be in his usual typecast of a role, something that he cannot seem to get away from. The nice British guy, I mean he does it pretty well but it just wasn't enough for this film to be brutally honest. When you have two main characters they need to be more engaging than this turned out to be.
The twist towards the end was something I actually didn't see coming which if I had any background knowledge about the event I obviously would have already known about it. So I am sure it would confuse people a little had they remembered about it happening. It was back in the 1980s so I guess that time has certainly passed before it got a big film release. I don't really imagine this will be a big box office film.
