Review: Adrift

“Shailene Woodley moves out of the teen dramas and the young adult action genre to tackle the ocean”

Adrift filmed much of its water time on the actual ocean, which really helps bring this film visually to life. Tami (Shailene Woodley) and Richard (Sam Claflin) play a young couple who are sailing a yacht across the ocean to return it the US for some rich friends of Richard. Along the way, the run into a huge hurricane and the boat capsizes. The story is then told with a duel narrative, with flashbacks filling in the details of how Tami and Richard met, how the fell in love, and how they ended up on this boat. Each flashback fills in time between Tami battling the ocean and trying to keep an seriously injured Richard alive.

The duel narrative works for the most part, however by using flashbacks at regular intervals, the story doesn’t quite build the sense of isolation and endless drifting that was needed to really sell the situation the characters are in. The film also overplays its hand a little in an early scene, so a later reveal is frustratingly obvious.

Woodley is very good in the lead role. She’s convincing when handling the boat and the required survival skills. She brings enough to the character and the relationship with Richard to make the audience care. Claflin works well in support, both in the flashbacks and in the stranded scenes.

Adrift is a good solid film, but nothing that hasn’t been seen before. The ocean is littered with films over the years about survival after tragedy. Thankfully, the film hasn’t tried to be an Oscar push for Woodley, and so it didn’t over do the character moments and give us over the top emotional speeches about survival.

The five bearded questions:

1. Was it worth a cinema trip? Yes.

2. Would I See It Again at the Cinema? No.

3. Would I buy it on Blu-ray: (only films I really love get bought these days) No. 4. Do I Recommend people see it? Yes

5. Any cheese/ Disney style bullshit?: (such as jokes wedged in at serious moments, because fun!). No