Adrift (2018)- Movie Review

"An inspiring true story of a woman lost at sea being brought to the big screen, well the sea could have kept this story"

Adrift is directed by Baltasar Kormakur and loosely follows the real-life survival story of Tami Oldham, played by Shailene Woodley, and her lover Richard Sharp, played by Sam Claflin,  as they try to survive while stranded at sea after being hit by a massive storm. It was inevitable that Hollywood would turn this interesting story of survival into a movie, but just cause her true story was interesting doesn't mean they could make a movie that would be the same.  Did Kormakur manage to turn Tami's story of survival at sea into a worth wild film, or should Hollywood have just left this idea adrift at sea? Well, that's what you got me for to tell you all the highs and all the downers that I got from this film and let you know whether this film is worth a hit or a pass that might just blow your movie-going high. 

Highs 

Visually Looks Good

The majority of the movie takes place with them at sea and I would have to say they managed to make that look really nice. The movie had a few good shots that looked beautiful and really captured the scene very nicely. They also used the camera angels very well to help you feel emerged into the movie. There weren't any shots that were like groundbreaking or anything, but for what it was I found appealing to the eyes and never blew my high in the movie. 

Acting Isn't God Awful

Now I'll admit I am not a huge fan of Shailene Woodley. A lot of her movies have been those terrible young adult movies like Divergent and her performance in them are not much better, but as far as this movie goes I don't think she was too bad. With her and Sam Claflin being the only characters in the movie the majority of the time, it was up to them to give a great performance in order to carry the movie and they did what they could to make this movie interesting. The chemistry between the two was fine and did not take you out the movie, but when you are the only two members of the cast featured in a movie you have to give an outstanding performance which they couldn't. Was their performance award worth? no not at all, but I think it has more to do with what they had to work with rather than the overall effort the two put forth. Maybe this is a step in the right direction for Woodley instead of doing those terrible YA films. 

Downers 

BORINNNNGGG

Now the real-life story this movie is inspired by sounds interesting, but this movie is far from that. This movie is flat out boring with pretty much nothing happening the entire time. I was expecting to see a story of her trying to survive at sea, but they hardly focus on that aspect. You never get to see them struggling to survive all they do is talk and talk and talk throughout the movie, and that could be interesting if the dialogue wasn't so bland and stupid. The conversation these two have with each other last for way too long and will probably put you to sleep because it is just not interesting at all. Yes, the actors weren't terrible, but the material they were given made them feel like they were. 

I was hoping this movie was gonna showcase the survival story of Tami, but instead, we got a boring story that focuses way too much on the relationship between her and Richard. they barely spend any time showing the two of them trying to survive or even showing how they wound up in the dangerous situation they were in, but instead guess what we got, them sitting around talking to each other trying to show the relationship grow, but even that failed. This movie could have probably been interesting as a tale of survival and endurance, but instead, we got a movie with boring dialogue and a boring love story.

Too Many Time Jumps 

I am not a huge fan of telling a story out of chronological order, but if done right it can be effective. but trust me this movie did not do that at all. This movie jumps all over the place way too much to the point where it really hurt the overall story. It starts with what you would think would be the second act and then jumps to three months before which I thought wasn't going to be too bad if that's the only jump they'd do, but nope I was wrong.

They continued to jump back and forth from before the accident and after the accident to try to showcase the two of them falling in love but it failed and kinda made things confusing. you could never really buy into the relationship because in one scene they would show them getting to know each other and after jumping to the aftermath of the accident for like two seconds, would jump to another scene about them but now they are madly in love, like what. Why do they love each other? I don't know and because of all the jumping you don't get to see that relationship get built and it just feels forced after a while. If your gonna tell a story out of order or even using flashbacks at least use them effectively and not like this movie did. 

Overall

Like I said this movie is BORING. The performances were decent but in a movie like this, the two actors had to really bring it to keep us entertained (which they didn't).  It also didn't help that they had bad material to work with and a story that jumped all over the place that made this movie hard to finish. I was never pissed off by this movie, but I did want to fall asleep a few time. You should definitely pass that shit when it comes to Adrift. Tami's story is inspiring and worth telling, but I think it deserved a better effort than this movie. 

But hey that's just my opinion. Whats really important is what you thought of this film? Did you see adrift? Did you think it was a good telling of the true life even? Let us know by sparking it up in the comment section. And be sure to follow us on our various social media platforms by hitting them below to stay up to date on the latest movie and entertainment reviews and news for the blazed crew. Blaze it!