Absurdist violent thriller drama that veers into comedy occasionally - but then hops right back to ultra-violence and the increasingly tiresome love-triangle nonsense. Psychologically unrealistic and physically impossible, the film treats its audience like teenage airheads, expecting to get away with quite a bit of silliness. And I presume it does get away with it all - among airhead teens at least.
Psychologically unsound. People who've had no food and water for 5 days would barely be talking, might actually be dead or dying or at least barely functioning (i.e. lying in their bunks barely moving, looking like zombies); they certainly wouldn't be arguing with such vigor, as if they'd only missed brunch. The fact that they'd argue about their past relationship issues - after a whole week of starvation and survival anxiety - is beyond ridiculous. Three days is pretty much it regarding survival sans water, and the three of them had one glass of water to share - for 5 days. You do the math: they should have been dead or dying by day 3, let alone day 5 - or later.
Making the "sensitive guy" the killer of the pregnant ex just seems forced, like a convenient and forced plot-twist to fill up the increasingly dreary proceedings in the last third. It doesn't wash. I don't buy it. It's like those dumb whodunits that want us to believe the killer is a wheelchair-bound 90 year-old nun. I don't believe in "dumb but fun twists" that are used at the expense of logic, at the cost of dumbing-down the story considerably. Some people do though: these people are fans of thrillers, the most idiotic genre of them all. If you're one of these people, ignore my opinions completely and enjoy the film. (No, wait, I gave you most of the spoilers here...)
Besides, if Blondie knew all along that his friend killed his ex - and he seemed to have known his motive too - then Blondie must have known from way earlier that his friend has a crush on his current girlfriend. I admit there's some grey area here, i.e. the logic barrier isn't completely shattered, but it's a dubious plot-twist that may contradict the very basis of the movie, which is that Blondie only found out a day earlier about their affair.
As is typical with thrillers, the plot-devices and twists just get progressively worse. An example is the sabotage of the boat perpetrated by the killer, just so he could kill Blondie. Just so absurd... He could have killed him without having to go to such - mildly put - extreme lengths. For one thing, he was seriously injured. (But I guess a harpoon piercing the entire hand is not considered a serious injury by this lazy writer-director - who probably never in his life had more than a toothache hence doesn't have the remotest concept of pain and suffering.) Secondly, his idiotic plan involved starving his love-interest, the girl, and himself. For an entire week, not even just a day or two - which might have been a workable plan. That he would so very seriously endanger both of their lives just to achieve something that can be achieved much easier (i.e. killing his buddy/rival) is beyond far-fetched. It is asinine. I wouldn't even trust a mental patient from the insanest loony bin to make such poor decisions. This is what is known as "forcing the plot at all cost": the director wanted an excuse to have the trio stranded at sea, and he wanted to have his silly thrilleric plot-twists, come what may.
Physically impossible situations. Right at the outset killer-boy gets his face and head smashed and pummeled like a tomato by Blondie, gets punched viciously at least ten times. The sort of unbridled attack that usually ends with death, or at best with severe injuries and sometimes permanent invalidity. But that's in REAL life: this is THRILLER life. He doesn't even lose any teeth! Are his dentures and jaw made of titanium steel?! Nothing's broken or fractured; not the teeth, not the jaw, not the nose, not the cheek-bones, nothing. The three simply proceed to go on a boat trip as if he'd just received a light slap in the face. Hospital treatment? Nah... Why get him medical help when the laws of physics and biology don't apply to him?
Nor do they apply to Blondie. Baby-face "tough jock" gets his head smashed with heavy objects TWICE in the space of a day, and yet has he got even a minor concussion? Nah... He's fine. Is he bleeding profusely at least? Nah, these people only have blood when it suits the director and his silly plot. When it doesn't suit him they are bloodless. Are 5 days devoid of water and food enough to completely destroy the bodies of three people? Nah... they're fine. These are THRILLER people, not real ones. Thrillers are more fictional than space operas. They don't HAVE to be this way, but thrillers have regressed and devolved to that level in recent decades.
And what happened with the narration? That narrator was eager to speak in the first half, but as the movie went on he must have... dozed off or something. This on-and-off narration seems very... off.
This writer-director took an old shtick - three people stuck on a boat - and repeated all the worst clichés. He must have thought he was making a very clever, original film. He wasn't. He didn't.
The silliness ends with the girl falling off the boat in a rather ludicrous Bugs-Bunny/Roadrunner way. Her reaction? The F word, uttered in a sort of sitcom-ish "Friends" way, as if she were one of the 6 buffoons on that awful TV show. An appropriately stupid ending to a fairly moronic movie.
Thrillers. The genre that denies humans the right to act like humans. Even superhero flicks are more realistic...
Psychologically unsound. People who've had no food and water for 5 days would barely be talking, might actually be dead or dying or at least barely functioning (i.e. lying in their bunks barely moving, looking like zombies); they certainly wouldn't be arguing with such vigor, as if they'd only missed brunch. The fact that they'd argue about their past relationship issues - after a whole week of starvation and survival anxiety - is beyond ridiculous. Three days is pretty much it regarding survival sans water, and the three of them had one glass of water to share - for 5 days. You do the math: they should have been dead or dying by day 3, let alone day 5 - or later.
Making the "sensitive guy" the killer of the pregnant ex just seems forced, like a convenient and forced plot-twist to fill up the increasingly dreary proceedings in the last third. It doesn't wash. I don't buy it. It's like those dumb whodunits that want us to believe the killer is a wheelchair-bound 90 year-old nun. I don't believe in "dumb but fun twists" that are used at the expense of logic, at the cost of dumbing-down the story considerably. Some people do though: these people are fans of thrillers, the most idiotic genre of them all. If you're one of these people, ignore my opinions completely and enjoy the film. (No, wait, I gave you most of the spoilers here...)
Besides, if Blondie knew all along that his friend killed his ex - and he seemed to have known his motive too - then Blondie must have known from way earlier that his friend has a crush on his current girlfriend. I admit there's some grey area here, i.e. the logic barrier isn't completely shattered, but it's a dubious plot-twist that may contradict the very basis of the movie, which is that Blondie only found out a day earlier about their affair.
As is typical with thrillers, the plot-devices and twists just get progressively worse. An example is the sabotage of the boat perpetrated by the killer, just so he could kill Blondie. Just so absurd... He could have killed him without having to go to such - mildly put - extreme lengths. For one thing, he was seriously injured. (But I guess a harpoon piercing the entire hand is not considered a serious injury by this lazy writer-director - who probably never in his life had more than a toothache hence doesn't have the remotest concept of pain and suffering.) Secondly, his idiotic plan involved starving his love-interest, the girl, and himself. For an entire week, not even just a day or two - which might have been a workable plan. That he would so very seriously endanger both of their lives just to achieve something that can be achieved much easier (i.e. killing his buddy/rival) is beyond far-fetched. It is asinine. I wouldn't even trust a mental patient from the insanest loony bin to make such poor decisions. This is what is known as "forcing the plot at all cost": the director wanted an excuse to have the trio stranded at sea, and he wanted to have his silly thrilleric plot-twists, come what may.
Physically impossible situations. Right at the outset killer-boy gets his face and head smashed and pummeled like a tomato by Blondie, gets punched viciously at least ten times. The sort of unbridled attack that usually ends with death, or at best with severe injuries and sometimes permanent invalidity. But that's in REAL life: this is THRILLER life. He doesn't even lose any teeth! Are his dentures and jaw made of titanium steel?! Nothing's broken or fractured; not the teeth, not the jaw, not the nose, not the cheek-bones, nothing. The three simply proceed to go on a boat trip as if he'd just received a light slap in the face. Hospital treatment? Nah... Why get him medical help when the laws of physics and biology don't apply to him?
Nor do they apply to Blondie. Baby-face "tough jock" gets his head smashed with heavy objects TWICE in the space of a day, and yet has he got even a minor concussion? Nah... He's fine. Is he bleeding profusely at least? Nah, these people only have blood when it suits the director and his silly plot. When it doesn't suit him they are bloodless. Are 5 days devoid of water and food enough to completely destroy the bodies of three people? Nah... they're fine. These are THRILLER people, not real ones. Thrillers are more fictional than space operas. They don't HAVE to be this way, but thrillers have regressed and devolved to that level in recent decades.
And what happened with the narration? That narrator was eager to speak in the first half, but as the movie went on he must have... dozed off or something. This on-and-off narration seems very... off.
This writer-director took an old shtick - three people stuck on a boat - and repeated all the worst clichés. He must have thought he was making a very clever, original film. He wasn't. He didn't.
The silliness ends with the girl falling off the boat in a rather ludicrous Bugs-Bunny/Roadrunner way. Her reaction? The F word, uttered in a sort of sitcom-ish "Friends" way, as if she were one of the 6 buffoons on that awful TV show. An appropriately stupid ending to a fairly moronic movie.
Thrillers. The genre that denies humans the right to act like humans. Even superhero flicks are more realistic...