This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
A True Story
Plot Overview
“Adrift” begins rather suddenly with a murky underwater shot that includes what looks like a body adrift—wearing a blinking red light to add to the terror. A gasping woman wakes up in a water-enveloped debris field. “Richie!” she calls out in desperation.
She is marooned on a swamped sailboat with a broken mast in the middle of the ocean. And that's the good news. The bad news is she finds Richie's lifeline unclipped. He's the experienced sailor of their duo and he's nowhere to be seen. “Oh my … We're gonna die!”
We go back in time to Tahiti, 1983, where free spirited Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley) connects up with adventuresome sailor Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin.) They hit if off big time (“I've never met anyone like you”) in scenes interspersed with the current shipwreck footage. Richard's friends Peter (Jeffrey Thomas) and Christine (Elizabeth Hawthorne) offer to pay them to pilot their 45 foot sailboat HAZAÑA back to San Diego for them. We follow this pleasurable journey of theirs until they run afoul of Hurricane Raymond,
Going forward we find the news that's too good to be true: Richard had clasped on to the skiff and Tami retrieves him from the ocean. He has a compound fracture of his ankle and several broken ribs, so he'll not be helping any with the sailing, but without his company Tami might well have lost her mind. Together they hope to make distant landfall in Hawaii sailing under the jib and navigating by dead reckoning.
Ideology
Tami had had a spiritual experience at a deep
island water hole. (Psalm 107:23-24)
“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business
in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders
in the deep.” Now having tried but failed to outsail the
storm she and Richie find themselves stranded “in a 1500 square
mile search area, not in any flight paths, and on no shipping
lanes.” A big storm had come up, (Psalm
107:25-28) and “they cry unto the Lord in their
trouble”: “Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. Can anyone hear me?”
God stills the storm and rescues them, (Psalm
107:29-30) in a “God helps those who help
themselves” kind of way. Tami has to cut loose the wreckage
that threatens to drag the boat under. She has to patch the side and
pump out the interior, then rig a sailing solution with what she has
left. Thus God has given her a (barely) seaworthy craft. Once
they set sail for Hawaii, God has helped them with favorable wind
and current. With sextant, digital watch, nautical charts, and some
shaky math skills, God has helped them with the navigation. God has
provided an ocean full of fish to eat; it's just a matter of vegetarian
Tami spearing them. As for drinking water God sends a squall, but
she has to catch it in buckets. Not every ship that passes will ignore
them, but someone still has to shoot off a star burst flare.
And when Tami spots land—or was it a land bird?—she can
(Psalm 107:31) “praise the Lord
for his goodness.” Tami: “Oh, my God!” Then (Psalm 107:32) comes the book deal.
Production Values
This adventure, “” (2018) was directed by Baltasar Kormákur. The screenplay was written by Aaron Kandell, Jordan Kandell and David Branson Smith. It was adapted from the book, Red Sky in Mourning, by Tami Oldham Ashcraft & Susea McGearhart. It stars Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin. The two leads delivered the goods: they had good chemistry together, their sailing looked real, and their responses to danger genuine.
MPAA rated it PG–13 for injury images, peril, language, brief drug use, partial nudity and thematic elements. The 96 min. version worked well for a story length. Although I enjoy reading books, and especially sea novels, I felt the movie stood well on its own. Robert Richardson's cinematography was beautiful and his storm scene well done.
Review Conclusion w/ Christian Recommendation
This would make a good date movie hands down. The trailer doesn't exploit everything. It's satisfying on multiple levels. Tami exemplifies the military bromide, siudo (suck it up, drive on.)
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Well done special effects. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat in the ocean scenes. Video Occasion: Good Date Movie. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
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