Dead Calm, an Australian psychological thriller directed by Phillip Noyce, contains a few anxiety-inducing moments but falls short of the promise shown at the beginning.
Based on Charles Williams’ novel of the same name, Dead Calm begins with Royal Australian Navy commander John Ingram (Sam Neill) learning that his wife Rae (Nicole Kidman) was involved in a car accident that resulted in their son’s death. To help deal with their grief, they take a vacation on the yacht alone in the Pacific Ocean. In the middle of the Pacific, they encounter another ship with Hughie (Billy Zane) as its sole survivor. Hughie explains to John that the rest of his team died from food poisoning, but John is skeptical and suspects foul play. As a result, he decides to go over to the ship, which is slowly sinking, and discovers that Hughie is a murderous maniac who has killed everyone onboard and is now alone with his wife. Hughie doesn’t want to go anywhere near the ship and sails away from the Schooner. The plot then divides into two parts, with John attempting to escape the sinking ship and Rae battling Hughie in order to get to her husband in time and save his life.
The film begins with the intriguing premise of the two ships alone in the ocean, where there isn’t a soul for miles and miles of open water. The wide-angle shots of these ships in the middle of nowhere depict the unsettling feeling of the characters getting trapped, giving a claustrophobic vibe as it feels like there’s no help coming if something goes wrong and they must fend for themselves. The film’s best bit comes when John gets stranded in the Schooner while Rae is left alone with Hughie. The makers succeed in making the audience feel the mounting tension as Rae plots her escape from Hughie and her attempt to reunite with her husband. She initially attempts to be aggressive but then strives to seduce him and uses all means necessary to get rid of him. There is a scene where she tries to grab a shotgun from above the deck but finds it increasingly difficult to do so without Hughie noticing. It’s a brilliantly executed scene that will make the audience hold their breath.
However, the film fails to live up to its hype. John and Rae have just lost their son, and I thought the grief angle would be explored in detail, which could have reinforced the characters and given them a powerful emotional impact, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, the couple’s loss was treated as a plot point whose sole purpose was to get them on that ship. When John discovers the schooner, even though the makers create an extremely unsettling atmosphere, leading us to believe something evil is lurking on that boat, the reveal is a bit of a letdown. Furthermore, the film’s final climactic twist, added at the demand of studio executives out of concern for unfavorable word of mouth about Hughie’s fate, feels unnecessary and tacked on.
The film’s most visible flaw is undoubtedly Hughie’s confused characterization. I never once bought into the idea that he was a deranged, unpredictable psychopath. As a result, Billy Zane’s performance suffers as his effort to balance being psychotic and yet friendly comes off as forced and unconvincing. However, Nicole Kidman delivers a superb performance as Rae, a fierce woman who shows tenacity and strength and goes against all odds to outwit her enemy.
Dead Calm movie links: IMDB, Wikipedia
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