Moments

Rating: 8/10 (13 March 2013)

The writers face some problems. First problem is that nobody cares what happens, in any scene, prior to the tidal wave. The only possible way around this problem is to write scenes prior to the tidal wave that people will care about. But instead of doing this the writers actually have the actors act out the entire process of arriving at a resort. Scene by scene. You know that process, yes? Flying on a plane. Traveling to a resort. Checking in to the resort. Not getting the room you booked. Realizing you are in fact paying to live in a kindergarten full of other peoples children running wild in a pool. For a week or more. By this time any sane person, character or viewer, would welcome a tidal wave. And then, mercifully for all, it arrives. The special effects are good. The writing then goes down hill. We are invited to empathize with the notion, real or imagined, that rich white women get their own private hospital room, complete with consultant physician, in a third world disaster zone. In case the audience is insufficiently empathising inside the hospital the score insets straining violin and also slow piano. We then pick up the story of the husband. The unfortunate thing about Ewan McGregor, who no doubt is a lovely guy, is that one inevitably ends up contemplating the timeless conundrum of why his career peaked with Train Spotting. And so one is no longer immersed in the movie. It is a line of thought impossible to break so long as he is in camera. This is the problem with casting him in this role or any role. Why not give a new actor a go. The movie already has Watts as the draw card. But why him. There can be no justification. It has been said that western literature consists of the extraction of hidden knowledge from its characters followed by the creation or reunification of the nuclear family. This film elevates these to the level of farce. Every scene is a pregnant pause before vital information is whispered when it should be urgently shouted. There is genuine convincing horror in this film. The thought of even stubbing your toe badly enough to require help in a third world country is enough to highlight the inconvenience of experiencing Armageddon there. And I like Watts in everything she does. If there is another Alien movie she would be a good choice as the hero.