Adrift (2018) Review

"Should we be worried?"
-Tami Oldham



Based on a true story, Adrift follows Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley), a free-spirit who travels to Tahiti, where she meets and quickly falls in love with Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin).  A few months later, they are hired to sail a boat belonging to a rich couple from Tahiti to San Diego.  But they are caught in a hurricane and their boat is wrecked.  Tami has to take care of the seriously injured Richard, while making sure their boat doesn't sink, and while trying to make it to land.


What Works:

Adrift has very unexpected narrative structure.  This movie is not told in linear fashion, which is what I expected.  The movie starts the morning after the storm, with Tami on the wrecked boat.  From there we flip back and forth between what is happening on the boat and everything that happened up to the storm.  The storm itself is the climax of the movie, which I think is an interesting way to tell the story.  It was something different, and while the execution wasn't perfect, I enjoyed the non-linear approach.

The storm sequence itself is very well done.  It builds the tension well, even though we know what happens, and the shot with the massive wave made my nauseous.  It's a very effective sequence and makes me never want to go sailing in my life.

Finally, (SPOILERS)!




I liked the twist at the end.  I wasn't expecting it at all.  Richard died in the storm and was just a hallucination from that point on.  The reveal was effective and it made sense.


What Sucks:

The focus of Adrift is not so much on the survival aspects, but on the love story and the relationship between Tami and Richard.  Unfortunately, they are both very boring and bland characters and I didn't care about their relationship at all.

The dialogue in this movie is cringey, and I eye-rolled a lot.  Almost everything out of the main characters' mouths made me want to gag.


Verdict:

While I appreciated Adrift's non-linear storytelling and the storm sequence, the focus on the romance of the main characters over the survival aspects was definitely a let-down.  The two main characters were so boring that it makes me not recommend an otherwise well-made movie.  I recognize I am not the target market of this film, but I still can't recommend it.  It's not outright bad, and there are things I really like about it.  It's just the love story was simply not interesting enough for me.

 5/10: Meh 

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