 A FilmExposed Film Review |
 Director: Hans Horn, 2006, Germany/UK, 92 mins
Cast: Susan May Pratt, Nicklaus Lange, Cameron Richardson, Eric Dane, Ali Hills, Richard Speight Jr.
A weekend cruise on a luxurious party yacht goes horribly wrong for a group of old high-school friends. They forget to let the ladder down before they jump into the ocean for a swim. The boat proves impossible to climb. They are stuck in the water many miles from shore, with a baby Sara left alone on board. Sara's mother Amy (Pratt) must contend with her aqua-phobia and the group's increasing desperation as the friends begin to turn on each other. The exhaustion of keeping afloat and the struggle to get back on board begin to take its toll, turning a happy reunion into a fight for survival.
German director Hans Horn, having failed to launch a string of small budgeted films, looked to ideas that were more commercial. After the success of Chris Kentiss’ Open Water (2003), Horn’s own take on a group of rich Americans in perilous danger out at sea finally received the funding he was looking for. Adrift was made in just 9 weeks. Some handy camera work aside, this feat of expediency seems to have been the film’s greatest triumph.
Young sexy people in ‘dangerous’ situations doing stupid things is the premise of many a horror/slasher/disaster films. And in order for it to work successfully in those genres, it requires believability and tension in bucket loads. This is sadly lacking. Despite the delicate and evocative camera effects used during Amy’s aqua-phobia flashbacks, (more credit to new up coming D.O.P, Bernard Jasper than Horn himself), Adrift fails to hold your attention and most importantly, suspend your disbelief enough in order to empathise with the protagonists’ plight.
Where Open Water’s characters develop, Adrift’s remain stunted. The dialogue is stilted and unrealistic, not helpful to a plotline where the characters are stuck in the water without any feasible way back up. Horn does attempt to ramp up the tension via the group’s efforts to come up with ever more fantastical ideas to get themselves out of the water: a rope made of their bathing costumes, a knife ladder. However, the harder the group tries, the more stupid they appear. It’s very difficult to engage, even like the characters, hence their feeling of panic and desperation is totally lost on you.
Given Horn’s background as a successful director of commercials, it’s understandable that he would want to replicate that success on the big screen. While Adrift does have visual merit, the silliness of the script will not match up to the expectations of a more discerning viewer. |
