Meticulously crafted and tenderly executed, Baltasar Kormákur’s (Everest, 2 Guns) Adrift is a journey not to be best on the largest screen you can find at your nearby cinemas. Lost at sea is one of my favorite genres of movies. This movie stands on its own against such classics as The Perfect Storm, Dead Calm, Life of Pi, Lifeboat, All is Lost, The Deep, and even academy award-nominated pictures like Cast Away and Life of Pi in the sense that it is based on a true story and that the true story is real in the sense that we know exactly what happened because, spoiler, the survivor lives to tell the story. While such stories as Titanic, The Perfect Storm, Open Water, and The Heart of the Sea are based on true stories and are fantastic movies, there is so much fiction added to these stories because we don’t have full accounts of what actually did happen because there either wasn’t someone left at the end to give the proper details or there were so many fictional elements added to the anecdotes that the plot from which the movie was based on has been entirely changed. That is not the case with Adrift, and that is what makes this movie so great. It isn’t “based on” or “inspired by” a true story. It IS a true story, and, ultimately, that’s what we want in the end.
Near the end of hurricane season in 1983, American Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley – Snowden, The Fault in Our Stars) and her English fiance Richard Sharp (Me Before You, My Cousin Rachel) were offered $10,000 and two first-class tickets home to sail a 44-foot yacht on a 4000+ mile journey from the island of Tahiti to San Diego. Naturally, Richard, an experienced and accomplished seafarer, wanted to jump at the chance of the large payday. Still, the new woman in his life had escaped America for the simpler life of this south pacific island and wasn’t yet ready to go back home. Just days earlier, the very much-in-love couple had talked about Japan being a destination that they each wanted to sail to explore together. But, like so many things in life, sometimes we follow what’s most practical rather than ideal. And within days of the proposition, Richard and Tami are preparing this new yacht for a voyage to California.
Midway through the journey, the couple ran into Hurricane Raymond, a tropical storm that had been intensifying over several days. Although fairly certain they were clear of the hurricane’s eye, they still decided to change direction to have even more distance between the yacht and potential danger. Nevertheless, 140 miles per hour winds and 45-foot waves were too much for the yacht to sustain. While Tami is secure below deck, Richard is sent flying into the Pacific Ocean after a massive wave capsizes the yacht. When Tami comes to, she realizes that Richard is gone. She does her best to repair the ship, patching holes with duct tape, pumping excess water that had accumulated in the cabin back into the ocean, and securing as much food as she possibly can. She continually uses a sextant, looking for Richard, another ship, or any sign of hope. The desperation escalating through her voice feels so real as the realization sets in that her fiance is dead and she is stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no hope for rescue.
Fortunately, she can find Richard the next day. She spots him with the sextant, floating on a piece of wood out in the middle of the sea. She swims out and pulls him back. Unfortunately, he has a broken leg and some busted-up ribs. He cannot do much and seems to spend the entire rest of the movie lying across a seat in the back of the yacht. Knowing that they do not have enough provisions (just some peanut butter, spam, and a few cans of food), Tami knows that they will not make it to California, based on provisions as well as the wind pushing them further away from their original destination. So instead, she will aim the yacht towards Hawaii while understanding that this is their one desperate chance of survival. In total, Tami and Richard will be at sea for 41 days since the shipwreck. And their will to survive is why this is one of the greatest survival stories in film history.
Adrift is beautifully filmed. Edited to a perfect 96 minutes, this is one of those movies that flies by but, at the same time, doesn’t take anything for granted and does not make you feel like you are missing anything. Set up in a series of perfectly crafted flashbacks, we first meet our protagonist minutes after Hurricane Raymond has capsized the yacht and sent Richard into the Pacific Ocean. Woodley, who has shined in nearly all of her movies in her short career, has never been better as a woman who has only a few months of amateur sailing experience under her belt, all under the tutelage of Richard. Kormákur was at the top of his game, as you will learn when you realize there is a little more to this story than is on the surface. And as he replays some of that in his mind and as you think of some of the other techniques he used…from the very beginning…all the way through the very end.
Nothing is overdone or overblown in this movie. You are invested in these two characters and their relationship from its inception. Tami and Richard are good people who are easy to root for. Woodley and Claflin are dynamic together and bring the relationship to life. The best thing that Kormákur does, other than the subtleties that will have your jaw-dropping at the end, is just letting the movie tell its story. Adapted from Tami’s 1998 account Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea, this movie tells her story in a way that was a little different than how she wrote the book, but without really changing any of the facts. And Kormákur’s take on it was one of the finest retellings and directing that you’re likely to see in 2018.
This is a movie that is meant to be seen on the big screen. Check it out for sure.
Plot 10/10
Character Development 8.5/10
Character Chemistry 9.5/10
Acting 9.5/10
Screenplay 9.5/10
Directing 10/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 8/10 (weirdly effective)
Hook and Reel 10/10
Universal Relevance 9/10
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