The other horrible film of the year was one that seemed to promise excitement and moving drama and instead delivered false character development and a very uneven story. George Clooney leads a great cast in this true story of a sword fisherman whose tiny fishing boat gets caught in the storm of the century. Wolfgang Petersen has directed many far superior thrillers (even the slightly overwrought Outbreak is far better than this), and far more satisfying ones as well. The scenes involving the actual storm are exciting and often terrifying, but anything else in the film seems like useless padding and just an excuse to make the film long enough to satisfying your paying dollar. The very talented Diane Lane gives an embarrassing performance as the noble blue-collar woman waiting for her man (Mark Wahlberg) on shore. When she screams at the evil guy who was paying for the fish that the boys were out trying to get, you really wonder why the hell she bothered to accept such a badly written role. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio makes the most of her role as a fellow boat captain, and her conclusion speech is the only truly memorable acting in the whole film (no surprise there, she rocks).
Review of The Perfect Storm
