Terror a bordo

Dead Calm is one of those rare thrillers with good acting, suspense and great setting. The ocean setting really makes this film, as well as the 2 boats. Kidman is a realistic and resourceful character and because the film had only 3 main characters throughout the whole movie, you go through the same emotions the actors do in the film. The ending seemed tacked on, but because the whole film is so good, the ending doesn't hurt nor help the film. Well paced, acted and overall great movie. 9/10

In Dead Calm, we get Sam Neill (before Jurassic Park), Nicole Kidman (before Days of Thunder), and Billy Zane (way before Titanic) in an aquatic thriller. The premise is set up well - a vacationing couple (John & Rae, the Ingrams, after the death of their son in a road accident) on a yacht ends up saving a man from a supposedly sinking ship, far far away from shore. The man (Zane plays Hughie) has some secrets (and creepy traits) that he hides until a pivotal moment arrives.

What's so good about Dead Calm is not its plot - it's the wonderful oceanic cinematography by Dean Semler. The performances too, are first-rate. The storytelling tries to balance John's struggles to survive as the Ingrams get separated, and Rae's personal battle with Hughie on the yacht as he tries to overpower her. John's scenes (with zero dialogue) on the ship are more thrilling than what happens aboard the Ingrams' yacht. As the antagonist, Zane was awkwardly creepy at times and laughably funny at others.

There's also the incoherent twist at the end, which was completely unnecessary. In this case, I'd have preferred the ambiguity. Nonetheless, it's a neat watch for the solid performances and some deliciously packed thrills.

After reading the plot for Dead Calm I was expecting an edge-of-your-seat boat massacre thriller, and in a sense that's exactly what Dead Calm is. I was always on the edge of my seat, anxious to know what would happen next and terrified for the characters in their respective situations, but there was much less violence than I was expecting. And I'm not complaining. Most of the violence is implied rather than shown, and the movie not only deals with physical abuse but emotional and mental abuse as well. The story is basically that this couple goes out to sea on a getaway to forget about a recent tragedy, and while they're out in the middle of the ocean they encounter a strange boat and a strange man who claims that his crew was killed by food poisoning. The way the pieces come together is very satisfying, especially when the truth slowly reveals itself and both the husband and wife are going through equally scary dilemmas as this stranger is roaming freely around their boat.

The acting is really what sells this movie. A boat movie with only three characters can get boring quickly, but thanks to the cast, I was totally in it. Sam Neil is separated from the others for a good amount of the film, but when he needs to shine, he does. The anchors of this movie are Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. Kidman is excellent as the emotionally distraught wife who is doing everything she can to keep it together while desperately trying outsmart the stranger. Billy Zane had me worried for a bit - I could tell he was acting, and at times he was a bit cartoonish, but by the end you come to realize that the character is an absolute nutcase so his erratic acting makes sense. You're not sure if he's just a guy who had a rough week, or a sympathetic victim of circumstance, or a straight up maniacal psychopath. This uncertainty helps keep the thriller afloat (yeah) and keeps you anxious to see whatever happens next.

The only real complaint I have about Dead Calm is that it does get a little slow at times. It's very atmospheric and moody for a majority of the film and there's no problem with that, but I couldn't help but be distracted during some of the longer quiet moments. Regardless, it all builds up to the movie's exciting climax which doesn't disappoint. The music is great as well - haunting and subtle. Keep in mind Dead Calm is not a jump-scare type of horror thriller. It's slow-paced, grounded and completely plausible, which for me is the scariest kind.

Dead Calm is directed by Australian film maker Philip Noyce (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger) and he is very talented director. This film stars young Nicole Kidman (21-22 years old in this film!) as a wife to Sam Neill and they have lost their son in a horrible car accident. They want to get over it and so they go to the sea with their boat and spend several weeks there. All is going fine and they are going to get over the loss of their son, but soon they discover an abandoned looking ship in the horizon and a man (Billy Zane) paddling desperately towards them. The man reaches the ship and the couple helps him on the board. He is little confusing and suspicious and soon his real nature is revealed...

This is extremely pleasant thriller and reminds me of films written by Eric Red (The Hitcher, Near Dark, Blue Steel) and these four films are very similar. The atmosphere in Dead Calm is very haunting and incredibly restrained. The atmosphere is also very similar to David Lynch and Lost Highway and Twin Peaks. The music is very important element in Dead Calm (as is in The Hitcher and Near Dark, too) and the overall feeling is very threatening and ominous. There are many exciting and breath taking scenes such as the one in which Sam Neill is trapped in a boat that is sinking and filling with water. With music, the photography is great and there are definitely no technical flaws in this great and surprisingly effective flick.

The young Nicole Kidman is so talented and acts perfectly. No one can say she can't act. Just look at her face and expressions: she is the main character in here and she is almost in every scene and she does nothing wrong or never acts over the top. The other actor's are also great, Sam Neill and Bill Zane, even though Zane goes little too far in couple of scenes and is not too believable. But overall, because there are so many great elements here, these little flaws and illogical plot turns can be forgiven.

Philip Noyce is worth watching director and he has done also other effective thrillers, but I think this will be one of his greatest achievements. Dead Calm is highly recommended.

8/10

You've got three actors, two old boats, a big ocean, and ninety minutes to fill. So you better have your ducks in a row, otherwise the package is going to sink faster than the proverbial lead balloon. Fortunately, the folks in charge here know what to do, and the void turns into a real nail-biter. Darn near everything but the kitchen sink is thrown into the action, and I may have even seen that float by.

After a 100+ reviews, two comments might be helpful. Note that in the struggle to survive, Hughie's (Zane) main adversary is not the expected other male, John (Neill), Rae's husband. Instead, John spends his time trying to keep his head above water in that broken-down old schooner, a long way from the malevolent Hughie. No, it's up to the girl Rae (Kidman) to save the day any way she can, without the expected masculine help. Good thing, Hughie's got an eye for her "fine-boned head" and certain other features, otherwise she's a dead duck in the first five minutes. Thus, the real contest is a resourceful woman versus an unpredictable man that breaks with the long-established convention of combat "mano y mano". And this departure, I take, to be a reflection of a surging feminist movement then making its way into popular screenplays.

Another sign of the times is the anti-climax "add-on". In the old studio days, killing a guy once was usually enough. Then, after the bad guy was dispatched, the audience could relax and await a return to normalcy for the good guys. However, clever modern filmmakers found they could supply a surprise extra jolt by breaking with convention and bringing the menace back from the apparent dead. That way, the audience can never feel secure enough to relax, and suspense is kept on high right up to fade-out.

The price they pay, however, is moving from a semblance of reality into the realm of cartoon violence. Here, Rae hits Hughie with everything but a laser blast. So how does Hughie, who appears to be a mere mortal like the rest of us, survive to provide that extra jolt. As you might guess, only by departing from reality as the rest of us know it. Thus, the structure of the screenplay migrates from "what could happen" into "what happens only in the movies". And, for me, at least, I'm reminded that this is, after all, only make-believe. Nonetheless, the movie really does accomplish a whole lot with a surprisingly very little.