Deadliest Sea (2009 TV Movie)
5/10
Based on a true story --- NOT
23 January 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The film opens with "Based on a true story". Sure, that's nice. Of course, they never do tell you what story it was. They do mention a book I don't have. That doesn't help me.

But the end of the film is where things get legal, and the truth comes out. "... any resemblance to persons living or dead is PURELY COINCIDENTAL" (my caps).

You can't have it both ways. It's either "based on" or it's "purely coincidental". I call BS.

But it doesn't matter anyway. With typically poor Canadian acting and cinematography, the movie is barely watchable. And for something supposedly happening in the open sea, those were not stormy ocean swells we were seeing. You'd have more dangerous waves at a water park wave pool. That said, I do feel badly for the actors who had to suffer through the wet to make this thing -- even if they did reuse some of their reaction shots to water hitting them, instead of hitting them multiple times with water.

Some of the special effects were so bad I burst out laughing. Even the original Gojira movies had more believable effects. It was hard to remain interested in the story after that. Not that they made it easy. As the movie goes on, it gets harder and harder to figure out what people are saying, who is speaking, who is on screen, and whatever. I never did figure out the whole thing about sucking the water out of the hose, or who died at sea, or why. The IMDb plot says there was a rogue wave. Really? When did that happen? Was that the CG part?

On the flip side, a lot of the dialogue was not stuff people would really say, but was instead put in there to tell the viewer stuff that should have been explained other ways. Like "how long can he survive out there?" Who would ask that, as their crew-mate is drifting away at sea? Is there something more important to do, besides saving him, like play a game of chess, or serve tea?

The great Canadian writer-director James Cameron gave the world Titanic (not to mention Avatar). Scott and Young give us this. James must be so proud of what his work has inspired.
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