George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg have been two of the largest film stars on the planet for many years now, with loads of heavy hitters of their filmographies (and a handful of flops, as any good film star wants). However whereas any film fan can possible rattle off their largest hits, considered one of their highest-grossing movies has largely flown below the radar since its launch 25 years in the past.
That will be The Good Storm, which premiered on June thirtieth, 2000, and is coincidentally the third highest-grossing home launch for each stars. Regardless of its substantial field workplace returns, it garnered blended evaluations upon its launch and is not talked about a lot right this moment. Whereas it won’t be a hit on the extent of Ocean’s Eleven or The Departed, it is nonetheless a worthy addition to their our bodies of labor, and a movie that also holds up effectively right this moment. Hollywood has solely gotten additional away from releasing motion pictures like The Good Storm, making it probably one of many final old school blockbusters.
‘The Good Storm’s Tragic True Story
The Good Storm is loosely based mostly on the nonfiction ebook of the identical identify by Sebastian Junger, which tells the story of the ultimate days of the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing boat from Gloucester, Massachusetts that disappeared through the so-called “Good Storm” of 1991. Whereas some liberties had been taken with the true story, significantly within the movie’s closing act after the ship loses radio communication, the solid principally portrays the actual individuals affected by the once-in-a-lifetime climate occasion.
Clooney performs Billy Tyne, the ship’s captain, an skilled swordfish fisherman (swordfisherman?) whose most up-to-date catch is slightly bit lighter than anticipated, a lot to the dismay of the ship’s proprietor, Bob Brown (the good Michael Ironside doing his finest New England accent). After simply a few days on land, Tyne decides to take his crew again out on the water for one final probability at placing fishy gold. Most of them aren’t so eager to return to the ocean so rapidly, particularly rookie Bobby Shatford (Wahlberg), who would not need to depart his girlfriend Christina (Diane Lane).
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However, they return out anyway, joined by fellow crewmen Murph (John C. Reilly), Bugsy (John Hawkes), Alfred (Allen Payne), and Sully (William Fichtner). After struggling to discover a first rate haul, Tyne decides to take the boat additional east, regardless of two somewhat regarding storm techniques that appear to be they’re about to converge proper of their path, merging into one super-storm. Suffice it to say, this won’t be the perfect concept. The movie jumps backwards and forwards between the occasions on the Andrea Gail and two different craft caught within the storm, the small sailboat Mistral and the Coast Guard vessel that struggles to rescue them, solely to finish up having to rescue the rescuers.
Why ‘The Good Storm’ Holds Up
The Good Storm is helmed by journeyman director Wolfgang Petersen, who got here to prominence by directing the traditional 1981 German submarine movie Das Boot amongst many different motion requirements, so it is secure to say he is aware of tips on how to deal with a maritime catastrophe. True to type, the storm sequences are appropriately thrilling, regardless of some somewhat dodgy early-00s CGI, because the crew struggles to maintain the ship afloat with out going overboard themselves. The movie captures the immense energy of nature, with large waves and punishing winds.
However earlier than all that, the movie takes its time establishing the neighborhood that has relied on the ocean for his or her survival for generations, and the characters which might be pulled each out to sea and again to land. Whereas some viewers may need the movie to get to the great things, investing within the characters pays off down the road. Murph has a younger son at house, and the unfortunate Bugsy begins a tentative romance with a lady named Irene (Rusty Schwimmer), making their closing voyage that rather more tragic. Wahlberg’s Bobby is the guts of the movie, his want to make a life with Christina offering the deepest emotional throughline.
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Billy Tyne is a surprisingly unheroic function for Clooney, a person pushed largely by his delight who finally ends up placing his crew in hurt’s method, in his want for one final massive haul. Although perhaps it is not as shocking because it appears; judging by his filmography, Clooney rapidly rejected extra overtly heroic starring roles to play all method of flawed figures and rapscallions. Perhaps his expertise as Batman made him need to get as distant from these sorts of tasks as doable. Regardless, he performs Tyne with the correct mix of blinding delight and bruised dignity, and his crew is greater than prepared to observe him straight into hazard.
The Good Storm is among the uncommon blockbusters that is not afraid to finish on a somewhat grim observe. The crew of the Andrea Gail and their ship had been by no means recovered, and the movie sticks to this ending, their names added to the record of these Gloucester residents misplaced at sea, their family members struggling to go on with out them. The movie positively has a sentimental streak, however it’s one which feels earned, a reminder that these had been actual lives misplaced, not simply characters in a film.