Review: All is Lost

ALL IS LOST:  Someone whose name is never revealed is on his way somewhere in a sailboat alone in the Indian Ocean.  This sounds like quite the adventure for someone who wishes to push the boundaries of endurance and accomplish something truly epic.  But you need to pay attention to the first lines of the movie.  You need to try to understand why this man is where he is.  Try to find some insight into the motivation of Robert Redford's character.  I don't think he was out there to be one of those classic adventurers.  He seems more of a yacht-y out on a neat trip.  In any event disaster strikes, he is forced improvise, abandon ship and survive.

My problem with this movie is that I know too much about sailing and life at sea.  I would hope that J.C. Chandor (the writer) did a lot of research.  There were a lot of mistakes made by Redford's character throughout the movie that made him appear to survive in spite of himself.  I think, though, the character was supposed to be seen as resourceful and less lucky.  And that, ultimately, is the problem with this movie it is hard to really sympathise with a character that makes really dumb decisions when you know what it is he should be doing.

All is Lost, is otherwise a really good movie.  Redford has a monologue at the beginning, speaks a sentence over a radio and says one more word - and that is the extent of the lines.  He acts well and does a good job showing his emotions and frustrations.  The photography is good - above average even.  For such a spartan movie it does very well - the beef with this movie is in the actions of the character that is, I believe, supposed to be more heroic and resourceful than he appears to an educated audience member.

On the Chris' Choice Rating Scale, All is Lost gets 3 stars.

***