Film

Film Review: The Impossible

The Impossible’, a film about the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, but is it too soon? Or better still, is it any good? Well, no and yes to those questions, in that order, ‘The Impossible’, is respectful, dark and features no end of cliche-driven dramatics, but manages to just about pull it off. A combination of wonderful performances not least by Naomi Watts and child-actor star Tom Holland, and amazing visuals, both CGI and real, mean that Juan Antonio Bayona’s film is at the very least a shocking piece, that at times wrestles with body horror, before bringing it back into the realms of ‘disaster’ movies and slightly ‘schmultzy’ dramas. I did, however, have a couple of gripes with the film on the whole, more of which later!

So, we begin with our heroes and heroine, on a plane to their infamous holiday destination of Thailand, on Christmas Eve 2004. We meet Maria (Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their trio of sons. Now, I may be being slightly overly-critical, but I really didn’t like them. The family are portrayed as a middle-class, British family, who mention living in Japan, such is the level of one of their job’s, and another sign of such wealth. Yet they are unhappy. The dad might lose his job, which might cause the mother to actually HAVE to work again after 7 years looking after her children, such horrible thoughts, working! And the kids are annoying, just annoying. Whilst you have a good 10 minutes or so backstory to the family, it didn’t make me care too much for them, but then again, maybe that was the point of it? To not portray a ‘Disney’-style film, where everything is perfect and people are perfect, when, obviously, not everybody is.

Throughout these 10 minutes, the audience is anticipating, knowing what is to come, but not knowing when, or what will occur from it. The moment the humongous wave appears on the horizon (my top picture to be precise), is breathtaking, but also horrifying, with the family seemingly stranded at meagre swimming pool as the sheer volume of water crashes down. I remember having goosebumps as this sequence progressed, with the impact caused by such a disaster harrowing, and reminding me of the real events that happened just 8 years ago.

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