I grew up around boats and the ocean and was really looking forward to this movie. There are very few sailing movies and the reviews for this one where all great.
Unfortunately the holes in this movie are far larger than the ones that sunk the yacht. I am very happy to suspend belief in movies that are not meant to be technically realistic, but this movie is based on a real life situation and tries to be realistic but fails miserably.
The trouble starts on the very first scene, the 'sailor' wakes up to find his yacht full of water. It has hit a shipping container and is filling up with water through a large hole. He must have been on the whiskey the night before because apparently he slept right through the crash that tore the hole into the back of the yacht (odd that it caused a hole in the back of the yacht). He stands there looking at the hole in the side of the yacht with water pouring in, just one arms length away from the bilge pump button (a pump designed to work under water to pump water out of the yacht). Does he flick the switch ? No he doesn't bother lifting his arm up and turning on a pump to start pumping the water out of the boat. Of course when he does hit the switch some time latter the pump doesn't work. That would probably indicated a flat battery, but the battery wasn't flat as he used it to power the radio latter on. He never really bothered to try to work out what was up with the bilge pump, instead opting to pump the water out by hand, after having to make a handle for the manual pump (I guess the vandals took the original handle).
After removing the container from the side of the yacht, he then sails away but changes his mind and sails back to the container, leaning to the side of yacht where the hole is, thus letting more water flow in and then literally rams the shipping container that has already nearly sunk him ! Maybe he was still on the whiskey, but this guy really should not be in charge of this yacht.
Then there is the logic behind the broken radio. First up, it is a VHF radio, used for short range communication. At sea a yacht would use a HF radio, but anyway, he manages to get it working and hears voices, but the radio is going on and off. So he climbs the mast to find the antenna unplugged ! If the antenna was unplugged he would not have heard a thing on the radio, unless the transmitting station was right next to him and anyway an unplugged antenna would have nothing to do with the radio turning on and off, which is obviously a result of salt water damage to the radio ! So he plugs the antenna back in and while at the top of the mast notices a storm coming. When he comes back down, does he try the radio that he just spent a great deal of effort supposedly trying to fix ? NO HE HAS A SHAVE ! Where is the logic in it ! He could see the storm coming, yet he does not bother to try the radio again. OK, so the boat sinks, after suffering the huge unluckiness of getting yet another hole (even though the original hole is patched up) and after he makes several more very poor decisions, such as leaving it too late to put the storm sail up, going outside during the massive storm for no apparent reason, leaving the main hatch open etc. So he deploys the life raft, a good idea. He ties the life raft to the yacht and gets into the life raft. Does he cut the line, no. OK so he is going to leave the line attached to the yacht ... pretty dangerous, but I guess he thinks the yacht probably won't sink and he will keep a close eye on it on cut the line if the yacht starts to goes under .... oh no no no, he goes to sleep in the life raft with it attached to the yacht ! There is no point even being in the life raft, if the yacht sinks, he goes down with it. No sailor would ever ever do something so stupid. It just defies basic logic.
There are so many holes in this movie. Even the effects are bad, the rain is always vertical but if there was a storm that was making the sea so rough, there would be high winds and the rain would be more horizontal .. in fact there is really no wind effect anywhere in the movie. Even when he is trying to get the storm sail up it is hardly blowing around. When the storms clears by morning the sea returns to being flat, there is no left over swell, completely unrealistic.
The way the guy moves, so slowly all the time even in critical situation was also very annoying, there is no urgency or sense of panic in it, personally I think the acting was terrible. I have been aboard boats that are taking on water and believe me you do not think, you act.
I can only assume the sailor is either an alcoholic or senile, either way he should not be the captain of anything that floats. He doesn't even bother to equip the yacht with an EPIRB, something that is law in most countries, but common sense to have for anyone going to sea and is something that would have ensured his timely rescue.
A very disappointing movie, obviously made by people who have no idea about the subject matter and seemingly lack basic logic.
Unfortunately the holes in this movie are far larger than the ones that sunk the yacht. I am very happy to suspend belief in movies that are not meant to be technically realistic, but this movie is based on a real life situation and tries to be realistic but fails miserably.
The trouble starts on the very first scene, the 'sailor' wakes up to find his yacht full of water. It has hit a shipping container and is filling up with water through a large hole. He must have been on the whiskey the night before because apparently he slept right through the crash that tore the hole into the back of the yacht (odd that it caused a hole in the back of the yacht). He stands there looking at the hole in the side of the yacht with water pouring in, just one arms length away from the bilge pump button (a pump designed to work under water to pump water out of the yacht). Does he flick the switch ? No he doesn't bother lifting his arm up and turning on a pump to start pumping the water out of the boat. Of course when he does hit the switch some time latter the pump doesn't work. That would probably indicated a flat battery, but the battery wasn't flat as he used it to power the radio latter on. He never really bothered to try to work out what was up with the bilge pump, instead opting to pump the water out by hand, after having to make a handle for the manual pump (I guess the vandals took the original handle).
After removing the container from the side of the yacht, he then sails away but changes his mind and sails back to the container, leaning to the side of yacht where the hole is, thus letting more water flow in and then literally rams the shipping container that has already nearly sunk him ! Maybe he was still on the whiskey, but this guy really should not be in charge of this yacht.
Then there is the logic behind the broken radio. First up, it is a VHF radio, used for short range communication. At sea a yacht would use a HF radio, but anyway, he manages to get it working and hears voices, but the radio is going on and off. So he climbs the mast to find the antenna unplugged ! If the antenna was unplugged he would not have heard a thing on the radio, unless the transmitting station was right next to him and anyway an unplugged antenna would have nothing to do with the radio turning on and off, which is obviously a result of salt water damage to the radio ! So he plugs the antenna back in and while at the top of the mast notices a storm coming. When he comes back down, does he try the radio that he just spent a great deal of effort supposedly trying to fix ? NO HE HAS A SHAVE ! Where is the logic in it ! He could see the storm coming, yet he does not bother to try the radio again. OK, so the boat sinks, after suffering the huge unluckiness of getting yet another hole (even though the original hole is patched up) and after he makes several more very poor decisions, such as leaving it too late to put the storm sail up, going outside during the massive storm for no apparent reason, leaving the main hatch open etc. So he deploys the life raft, a good idea. He ties the life raft to the yacht and gets into the life raft. Does he cut the line, no. OK so he is going to leave the line attached to the yacht ... pretty dangerous, but I guess he thinks the yacht probably won't sink and he will keep a close eye on it on cut the line if the yacht starts to goes under .... oh no no no, he goes to sleep in the life raft with it attached to the yacht ! There is no point even being in the life raft, if the yacht sinks, he goes down with it. No sailor would ever ever do something so stupid. It just defies basic logic.
There are so many holes in this movie. Even the effects are bad, the rain is always vertical but if there was a storm that was making the sea so rough, there would be high winds and the rain would be more horizontal .. in fact there is really no wind effect anywhere in the movie. Even when he is trying to get the storm sail up it is hardly blowing around. When the storms clears by morning the sea returns to being flat, there is no left over swell, completely unrealistic.
The way the guy moves, so slowly all the time even in critical situation was also very annoying, there is no urgency or sense of panic in it, personally I think the acting was terrible. I have been aboard boats that are taking on water and believe me you do not think, you act.
I can only assume the sailor is either an alcoholic or senile, either way he should not be the captain of anything that floats. He doesn't even bother to equip the yacht with an EPIRB, something that is law in most countries, but common sense to have for anyone going to sea and is something that would have ensured his timely rescue.
A very disappointing movie, obviously made by people who have no idea about the subject matter and seemingly lack basic logic.