ALL IS LOST - Tuesday 11th March 20

If you have ever owned a boat, sailed a boat or crewed a boat - one of those with a sail that is, then 'ALL IS LOST' should be a must see film for you! I saw this last night with a couple of mates at the Cremorne Orpheum, and thoroughly enjoyed the ocean going adventure story of survival. If you are looking for a fictionalised seafaring drama the likes of 'DEAD CALM', or 'GHOST SHIP', or 'THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE', or 'CAPTAIN PHILIPS' or 'TITANIC' then you're gonna be disappointed. . . because this it certainly ain't!

There is some similarity with 'TITANIC' in as much that ocean going liner hit an iceberg and eventually sank, and this ocean going yacht hits a container and will eventually sink! The comparisons end there though!

Robert Redford is the only character in this film in which the dialogue is very scant but the action is gripping, taught and speaks louder than words anyway. Redford is a family man (we know this from his opening voice over as he reads from a note he pens to his family towards the end when he thinks 'all is lost' - and his final message is tossed over the side of his life raft in a screw cap jar). He is clearly an experienced ocean sailor, retired successful action type, comfortable in his isolation, battling the elements and in control of his emotions.

When his yacht hits a container bobbing up & down mid-ocean and starts to take on water he accepts it for what it is, deals with it and seeks to move on. The elements close in on his stricken yacht in a close quarter storm sequence that will have you on the edge of your seat. When the clouds clear and sunlight breaks through Redford goes stoically into resourceful damage control again, before getting hit by another sever storm front that capsizes his boat and turns it through 360 . . . twice, eventually snapping the mast and sounding the final death knell for his stricken vessel.

All throughout this Redford's craggy, grizzled, lived-in features retain a ruggedness, a relentless determination to pull through despite the many unforeseen hardships that the vast ocean can throw at him. From there it's into his life raft, and the action on the high seas continues unabated, leaving the viewer wondering what else does this poor guy might have to endure, all the while drifting toward a shipping lane and salvation.

All of this is delivered with a tense, suspenseful realism by Director, J.C. Chandor who's shows us that you don't need explosions, gun toting villains, complicated storyline, elaborate chase sequences, sex, drugs, and a thumping music score to make a movie. Redford has probably never been better, and the lack of dialogue, the emptiness of the ocean, and one man against the elements just adds to the believability, the realism and the drama that outweighs anything that the spoken word can offer here.

Ensure you catch this on the big screen.



-Steve, at Odeon Online-