Ghost Ship (2002) Review

"Congratulations.  You found a boat.  In the middle of the ocean, of all places."
-Maureen Epps



A salvage team, led by Sean Murphy (Gabriel Byrne), is approached by a weather service pilot, Jack Ferriman (Desmond Harrington), who spotted a large ship adrift in the Bering Sea.  They manage to track it down and discover it is the SS Antonia Graza, a famous luxury ocean liner that had been missing for 40 years.  As the team prepares to haul the ship in, they start noticing strange presences around the ship.  They realize something bad happened to the previous passengers and they're the next targets of the malevolent force onboard the ship.


What Works:

With no hyperbole, the opening sequence of Ghost Ship is one of the greatest opening sequences I've ever seen.  It's a truly brilliant and horrific way to kick off the film and got my expectations way too high for what was to come.  It starts off in very classic Hollywood fashion with a classy party happening on the desk of the ship.  What happens next is utterly horrific, shocking, and amazing.  I should have stopped watching there because nothing in the rest of the film comes close to matching the brilliance of the opening.

I have to say I really liked the set design.  The various compartments of the Antonia Graza look pretty cool.  Its a solid setting that had real potential, but the movie doesn't do enough to capitalize on it.

Finally, I liked the flashback reveal of what truly happened on the ship and who was behind it.  The hard rock music was a bit much, but the sequence is well shot and ends with a gnarly death on a hook, which is always fun.


What Sucks:

The characters in this film absolutely suck.  Besides Maureen Epps (Julianna Margulies), Murphy, and Ferriman, the rest of the crew are completely interchangeable and not memorable in the slightest.  That's a shame because Karl Urban (Éomer from The Lord of the Rings and Bones from Star Trek) is among the cast and is completely wasted.  Even the three standouts aren't very good.  They were all pretty boring characters and it felt like none of the actors wanted to be there.  I've heard that there were some major script changes after the actors signed on to the film that none of them liked, so I'm sure they really didn't want to be there.  If the actors don't want to be in the film, why should I want to watch it?

None of the scares are very memorable.  Apart from the aforementioned opening and flashback sequences, almost nothing of interest happens in the film.  It's never scary.  It's never exciting.  It's mostly just boring.

Finally, the CGI has not aged very well.  The exterior of the boats frequently looks very fake and some special effects sequences that were probably cool at the time are laughable now.  


Verdict:

Ghost Ship has a cool setting that goes wasted because of uninteresting characters, subpar acting, a boring story, and poor special effects.  However, the opening sequence is one of the greatest things I have ever seen.  Do yourself a favor and go watch the opening.  It's about four minutes long and is simply incredible.  Don't bother watching the rest of the film though, there's almost nothing worth seeing.


 3/10: Really Bad 



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