Flawless script, effects make ‘Perfect Storm’

THE PERFECT STORM. 129 minutes; PG-13. Directed by Wolfgang Peterson. Written by Bill Wittliff, based on the book by Sebastian Junger.

Wolfgang Peterson’s excellent film, “The Perfect Storm,” is a fantastic example of how special effects, when backed by a strong script and an even stronger cast, can create terrific, rousing entertainment — the sort that creates a sustained, meteoric high even in the face of the low pressure it depicts.

The storm in question is indeed perfect, a Category 5 hurricane that makes the Ice Storm of ’98 look like a passing flurry. With the special effects team of Industrial Light & Magic at the helm, “The Perfect Storm” lets loose one hell of a realistic gale, a nightmare of high winds and towering waves that sweeps the audience to the edge of their seats, nevertheless creating an intimacy that’s rare in a blockbuster film: When this storm hits, we’re all in it together.

Based on Sebastian Junger’s true account of events that occurred off New Gloucester, Mass., in the fall of 1991, the film stars George Clooney as Billy Tyne, a sea-weary captain of the Andrea Gail who’s under pressure from his employer to catch more swordfish.

Proud to a fault, Billy uses the financial desperation of his crew (Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, Allen Payne and William Fichtner in strong supporting roles) to leave their families behind and go back to sea for a fishing trip Billy promises will be their greatest, most profitable to date.

But with three storms brewing in the Atlantic and threatening to collide into a super storm precisely where the men will be fishing, the film mirrors films such as “Armageddon,” “Mission to Mars” and “The Right Stuff” — and books such as Conrad’s “The Heart of Darkness” and Melville’s “Moby Dick” — in that it sends these men into the dangers of the unknown.

What’s so great about “The Perfect Storm” isn’t just its storm, which is marvelous to behold, but its finely drawn characters. This is a film about working-class people, how they live and interact, and the sacrifices they make every day just to put food on the table. We’re so used to seeing bland, cliched characters thrown up on the screen, the small-town specifics of “Storm” come as a necessary, refreshing change.

Big and powerful, Peterson’s film recalls his best, “Das Boot,” in that it gets the small details right — the cramped living quarters aboard the Andrea Gail, the bad food, the stink of dead fish, the longing for love and family, the weight of what it means to be one of these men.

In the end, everything comes down to timing and luck; nothing can be lost to chance. “The Perfect Storm” knows this and respects it. It’s a terrific film that shouldn’t be missed.

Grade: A

THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE. 90 minutes, PG. Directed by Des McAnnuff; written by Kenneth Lonergan. Based on the characters by Jay Ward.

Not to split hairs, but “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle,” which owes its soul to 1988’s hilarious “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” doesn’t come close to scoring the big laughs that film enjoyed — and that’s because “Bullwinkle” isn’t nearly as inventive, clever or witty.

Based on the popular 1960s cartoon, this big-budget bore follows “Roger Rabbit” and “The Mask” in that it weds live action to animation, but somehow director Des McAnnuff forgot to secure a script before starting principal photography. The result is a film that’s so painfully self-aware and underwhelming, some audience members might wish it were moose season upon leaving the theater.

The plot — at least, what there is of one — conspires to bring Rocky (the original voice of June Foray) and Bullwinkle (Keith Scott) out of reruns and onto the big screen. For the first 30 minutes, that’s the lame setup, which eventually opens into a film that finds Rocky and Bullwinkle trying to keep Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro), Boris (Jason Alexander) and Natasha (Rene Russo) from hypnotizing the world with Really Bad TV.

What made the original cartoon series work so well wasn’t just the chemistry between its animated cast, but its over-the-top puns, which “Adventures” certainly has in antlers — but few of which work in this oddly three-dimensional world.

Worse is Rocky and Bullwinkle’s cohort Karen Sympathy (Piper Perabo), an FBI agent who forever seems to be playing catch-up with the repartee. Not quite as dumb as Bullwinkle and not nearly as bright or as exasperated as Rocky, she throws off the balance of lunacy by striking a dull middle ground. That proves a huge miscalculation, one that kills the film early on.

With humorless cameos from Janeane Garofalo, John Goodman, Whoopie Goldberg, Randy Quaid, Jonathan Winters and Billy Crystal, “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle” is a misguided blowout on par with 1986’s “Howard the Duck.” At my screening, very young children seemed to enjoy watching an animated squirrel and moose move about the screen, but adults sat in a sad nostalgic stupor and the laughs were few — certainly nowhere near the delirium generated by the superior “Chicken Run.”

In the end, nobody says it better than Rocky: “Gee Bullwinkle, I guess it’s true — you can’t go home again.”

If only they’d realized that from the start.

Grade: D

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Monday and Thursdays in the News, Tuesdays and Thursdays on NEWS CENTER at 5:30 and NEWS CENTER at 11, and Saturday and Sunday on NEWS CENTER Morning Report.

THE VIDEO CORNER

Renting a video? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

Scream 3 — B- Hanging Up — F The Talented Mr. Ripley — A Scream 3 — B- Anna and the King — A- Sweet and Lowdown — A- Topsy-Turvy — A Bicentennial Man — D+ Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo — C- The Emperor and the Assassin — B- The Green Mile — A Light it Up — C+ Play it to the Bone — D+ The Third Miracle — D Girl, Interrupted — B Miss Julie — C Next Friday — B- Man on the Moon — C- Snow Falling on Cedars — C American Movie — A Eye of the Beholder — F The End of the Affair — B+ Felicia’s Journey — B+ Sleepy Hollow — B- The World is Not Enough — B+ American Beauty — A Bringing Out the Dead — B- The Straight Story — A Anywhere but Here — B+ Being John Malkovich — C+ Dogma — F Galaxy Quest — B+ Fight Club — B+ Flawless — C- Music of the Heart — B Tumbleweeds — A The Bachelor — D+ End of Days — C+ The House on Haunted Hill — F Mumford — A- Stuart Little — B- The Insider — B+ Superstar — B+ Three Kings — A- Three to Tango — D- Boys Don’t Cry — A For Love of the Game — B The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc — C- The Phantom Menace — B Jakob the Liar — D Last Night — B- The Sixth Sense — A-