Tragically empty

Rating: 3/10 (10 February 2013)

Boxing Day. 2004. After an underwater earthquake a tsunami hits the shores of East Asia. A family of five Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three kids: Lucas (Tom Holland), Thomas (Samuel Joslin) and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast) are blissfully spending time on the shores of a Thai luxury hotel. Unexpectedly the wave hits them unawares while having fun in the pool. Soon the family is torn apart with Maria and Lucas swept away and Henry holding the two youngest sons disappearing in the undertow.
Juan Antonio Bayona delivers a spectacular recreation of the tsunami with its destructive currents leaving a destitute landscape in its wake. Given this ordeal and its scale it seems obvious that when the water settles the ensuing drama of dealing with the aftermath will take over. At first we follow Maria and Lucas, who stick together even with the risk of life, thankfully manage to come out alive, holding each other in embrace. Grateful at least to have each other, and as they fully realise the miracle of surviving the incident the obvious dawns on them - the inevitability that the remainder of the family is most probably dead. Naturally anyone privy to seeing a trailer or even knowledgeable that killing the only recognisable star (apart from Watts) five minutes into the movie is highly unlikely knows that Henry is bound to reappear. Couple that together with the all-telling title "Impossible" and soon the obviousness is obvious: The whole family will impossibly survive. Thus making the whole rabbit run around the devastation in search of family members a prolonged path to the inevitable conclusion, which makes the tidal wave seem nothing more than a minor time-consuming inconvenience. Unfortunately this search for family constitutes the remainder of the story, albeit it also offers sights of all-engulfing chaos and scenes or glimpses of families not as lucky. The whole plodding certainty as to the finale is finally put to ridicule during a comedic runaround at a Thai hospital with family members 'just missing each other' for five or so minutes, which - despite the sombre music - invoked some badly placed laughter.
"Impossible" proved somewhat of a conundrum. The whole event itself is so dramatic, that it is hard to denigrate a heart-warming story connected to it. But the shock factor and then layered sentimentality on offer by Bayona is just so overwhelming, that I never really felt for any of the main characters, even more so that the conclusion was apparent once the waves rescinded. Given how emotional the premise, I found myself astounded that I just didn't empathise despite Bayona's obvious attempt to milk the audience (and I am easy person to jerk a few tears out of). But maybe that was the problem? The manipulation of tear glands is just too forced. All in all a bloated cutesy waste of a spectacularly well made catastrophe with an overbearing message: that in such a deadly calamity it's good to be rich and white... As soon as the family reunites they are whisked off in an empty private jet to the safety of first class hospital care. Shame the movie didn't end immediately after the tsunami...