The Impossible

Sunday 3rd May 2015

Director: J.A. Bayona
Year: 2012
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, Oaklee Penderghast

Don't watch this film if you're after something cheerful. Whether or not it ends well, it's a difficult movie to watch. It's possibly not the movie we should have picked to watch with our only free evening in some time - but at least it was good.

The Impossible tells the story of a family of five who were on holiday in Thailand when the tsunami hit in 2004. The title is probably something of a clue as to how the movie ends - but it's the journey the family take to get there that the film focuses on.

This probably isn't a movie that could have been made much sooner than it was - in many ways the tsunami and it's after-effects still feel very recent. But it is a well-told, respectful movie, and does do the subject justice.

Rating: 4 out of 5

2012

Wednesday 22nd January 2014

Director: Roland Emmerich
Year: 2009
Stars: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt

This had been sitting waiting to be watched for some time. I wasn't expecting a lot from it, and it probably wouldn't have been our first choice of movie... except for the fact that it was split into two halves (something to do with small fingers and switches when it was being recorded), and we were both shattered. So an easy-to-watch movie that lasted a few hours before bed sounded about right.

If you're expecting a disaster movie, 2012 isn't actually too bad. You have to accept that camper vans and limos can jump across massive chasms, but if you're OK with that, you'll probably enjoy this. The basic premise is that the the Earth's crust, and therefore the world, is going to get destroyed. Cue lots of weather-related disasters; earthquakes floods, tsunamis, volcanos in the USA, that kind of thing...

There's a lot of pretty impressive CGI here, and I imagine it would have looked even better on the big screen. Also, as disaster movies go, the story isn't utterly ridiculous. Settle down for an enjoyable evening where no thinking is required and you'll be perfectly happy.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5