Nothing Is More Powerful Than The Human Spirit

Rating: Null/10 (9 August 2013)

From the director of Spanish chiller The Orphanage, The Impossible arrives as a disaster film based on the true account of a close-knit family. However, no matter how spellbinding some of its key sequences look or how strong the performances are, the film unfortunately falls short of making its desired impact & is marred by its incredibly manipulative premise.
The Impossible tells the story of a close-knit family vacationing in Thailand during December 2004 but their Christmas celebration is cut short when the entire South-East Asia is stuck by a devastating tsunami the very next morning, altering the life & fate of thousands. The story covers the plight of this particular family & their fight for survival against all odds.
Directed by J.A. Bayona, the direction is pretty good but the script is just full of emotionally manipulative & overly sentimental moments that nearly derails the whole picture. The best scene is of course the tsunami sequence for it is captured in quite an unflinching, brutal & raw manner plus looks highly authentic while the rest of its technical aspects are nicely executed.
Coming to the performances, The Impossible features a fine cast in Naomi Watts & Ewan McGregor and while the former does a great job in one of her most commanding roles, the latter does a good job as well. The rest of the cast, especially the child actors, also chip in finely in their given roles but the writing part is handled so badly that it's difficult to take it seriously sometimes.
On an overall scale, The Impossible advertises itself as a heart-pounding tale about human kindness rising against the deadliest calamity of 21st century yet it tries so hard to evoke a sympathetic response from its viewers that its aspired realism simply goes out the window. Entertaining for many, rewarding for some & a good cinema overall if not a bad one, The Impossible is worth a shot.