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. Being lost in the sea is one of my favorite movie subgenres. 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 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 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, which makes this movie great. It isn’t “based on” or “inspired by” a true story. It is a true story; ultimately, that’s what we want.
Category Archives: Sam Claflin
Me Before You (2016)
I saw Me Before You back in 1991. It was called Dying Young, and Julia Roberts was the star. It stunk. I am completely joking, but I promised myself I would use this as the first line of this review regardless. The truth is I didn’t see Dying Young until 2005. That part is actually true, but the real truth is that these movies aren’t even in the same league. Dying Young wasn’t as poor as I thought it would be, but I really don’t remember much about it. On the other hand, Me Before You was an extremely profound movie that I will remember from years on out. And I also believe it is a movie that showcased the range of Emilia Clarke (HBO’s Game of Thrones) and firmly planted her as a leading actress for the next 10-15 years. The film also introduced Sam Claflin to the rest of the world that has not seen The Hunger Games franchise, where he played the role of Finnick. Before I get firmly into the nuts and bolts of this review, I want to state that I was blown away by every aspect of this tear-jerker. While it was clearly designed to tug at our heartstrings, it felt completely authentic. It was carried by an absolutely superb performance by Clarke and backed up heavily by Claflin, who did just enough to play second fiddle. I remember seeing Brooklyn last year. Brooklyn was a movie that I adored, but I couldn’t understand it when I could hear the sniffling and see the watery eyes of all those sitting near me. In Me Before You, I understood it completely. There are a few quick and funny tidbits related to this movie that I thought I’d share:
- I thought this was another movie based on a Nicholas Sparks book.
- I kept getting this movie confused with Love & Friendship, the Jane Austin novel adapted for the big screen that came out around the same time as Me Before You. But, as I look at these two movies now, the only comparison was that I was convinced I wouldn’t see either movie at the time of their release.
- I was talking to a co-worker about Me Before You, and she basically spoiled the moving, telling me that she didn’t want to ruin it for me, but continuing to do so.