Strong Performances Carry Film

Rating: Null/10 (14 January 2013)

The Impossible (2012)
*** (out of 4)
A British couple (Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor) take their three sons to South Asia for a vacation and soon they're separated by the biggest tsunami ever on record. This film tells the true story of a real couple caught up in the December 26, 2004. THE IMPOSSIBLE is a good movie but I think it falls well short of being great, which is too bad because there are some very memorable thing scattered throughout the picture. We can start with the tsunami sequence, which was just downright chilling and you have to give director Juan Bayona credit for really putting the viewer right there in the horror of things. I'm not going to sit here and say it makes you feel as if you were really there because nothing could do that. However, for something not real, I think the entire sequence was very scary and it makes you shocked that anyone could survive such abuse to their body. I think the film has its heart in the right place but I don't think it really makes the story flow. I found the film and story to work itself out way too easily. I know that might sound weird and perhaps the truth of the situation was this easy but everything just seemed a tad bit rushed and it seemed to happen way too easily. Another problem I had is that I really didn't emotionally connect with anyone involved in the story. Yes, the true story was something incredible and yes it was remarkable what these people went through. You still need to do more than just tell a story. As a film you need to get that across and I don't think this one did a good job at that. The performances are exceptionally good and this includes Tom Holland as the young boy who gets separated with his mother. Both Watts and McGregor were exceptionally good as the parents. THE IMPOSSIBLE is certainly worth watching due to that horrific tsunami scene as well as the performances but I think the story could have been told better.