To preface this review, I never read other reviews on a film before I write my own. This is a subject ripe for a film for decades. The film is worth seeing but not fantastic. Note: stating that the ship in question is sunk is not a "spoiler" but is common knowledge and if it is not, then pass the blame onto poor public school funding nationwide and not this review. We shouldn't compensate for stupid people, but raise the bar for everyone. Onward.
Good story, good acting, nice little nods to the movie Jaws but also flawed on actual facts, ie. the sharks. Quint's famous shark story got it right, the sharks were Tigers not great white's as this film portrays. The directing was competent but there were many moments he missed getting real "movie moments" which in a more, I would not say experienced but "filmic" directors hands, would have elevated this film to a higher bar. For those of you that don't know what a "movie moment" is... basically it's those moments in a film everybody remembers, if not consciously, at least leaves the imprint unconsciously on the viewer. A director like Spielberg is a master of "movie moments" and that is why his films are memorable. And now onto the weakest link in the chain...the CG effects, or defects if you prefer.
The budget of this film is $40 million, not a huge amount anymore for a Hollywood film but still a sizable sum. Perhaps it would have been wiser to cut down on the name actors in the film and hand that to the effects department. But Hollyrock producers still think that only name actors pull in the audience and not a good story. Some of the effects are really good, some good shark effects whether on set effects or CG, most are ok bordering on "iffy" while the rest are just at a student learning level of quality, that is piss-poor. Some of the ship de-fects would not even be up to video game standards. As a video game they are really good but for a realistic film...they really drag down the film like the great white sharks biting a sailor's leg.
Review of USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage
