Adrift (2018)
Genre: Adventure
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Sam Claflin, Grace Palmer, Jeffrey Thomas, Elizabeth Hawthorne
Duration: 96 minutes
Class: 12A
KRS Releasing Ltd

Icelandic film-maker Baltasar Kormákur (Contraband, Everest) directs this film loosely based on a true story set in 1983 when a couple was left stranded in the Pacific Ocean after a hurricane.

Shailene Woodley stars as Tami Oldham Ashcroft, an experienced sailor who embarks on a 6,500km delivery passage of a 13-metre yacht from Tahiti to San Diego, with her fiancé Richard Sharp (Sam Caflin). They sail directly into Hurricane Raymond, one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history. After the storm, Tami awakens to find Richard badly injured and their boat in ruins; she thus must find the strength and determination to save herself and the man she loves.

In 2002, Ashcraft wrote a book about her experience, Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss and Survival at Sea. The film received mixed reviews, with critics praising Woodley’s performance and cinematography but panned the all-too-familiar narrative. They compared it to Robert Redford’s All is Lost.

Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote: “Woodley gives herself over to the physical and spiritual reality of each scene. She knows how to play an ordinary woman who’s wild at heart, and she keeps you captivated, even when the film itself is watchable in a perfectly competent, touching and standard way.”

Some critics were, however, not convinced about the romantic part of the film.

John Anderson of the Wall Street Journal commented: “You can consume only so much gooey romanticism before someone gets seasick, and it’s precisely the soggy love story at the centre of Adrift that prevents this storm-tossed vehicle from achieving maximum upthrust.”

And Jonathan Pile of Empire magazine was similarly unimpressed. He said: “Hampered by a script that fails to make the central love affair work and few new ideas while they’re stranded at sea, even the best efforts of its talented lead pair can’t keep this afloat.”

The critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes is certainly more positive: “Adrift sails smoothly between love story and survival drama, thanks in large part to a gripping central performance from Shailene Woodley.”

The film, which had a production budget of $35 million, so far made ends meet as it grossed $35.1 million in box office sales since its release in the US on June 1.

Ratings
IMDB: 6.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 72%
Empire: 2 stars

A pug takes centre stage in Patrick.

Patrick (2018)
Genre: Comedy
Director: Mandy Fletcher
Starring: Ed Skrein, Emilia Jones, Beattie Edmondson, Jennifer Saunders
Duration: 94 minutes
Class: PG
KRS Releasing Ltd

Sarah Francis (Beattie Edmondson) is a young schoolteacher whose life is a bit of a mess. Things can only get a bit more messy when she inherits her grandmother’s prized possession, a very spoilt pug named Patrick. The dog causes more chaos in all aspects of Sarah’s life but, at one point, he begins to turn her life around.

The British action comedy, directed by Mandie Fletcher (Absolutely Fabulous, The Movie), received poor reviews. Wendy Ide of The Observer described the film as a lame comedy, while Adam White of The Telegraph called it “an insult to lovers of both dogs and romcoms”.

And Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote: “It’s a film jam-packed with very good actors and big names, and suffused with a puppyish willingness to please. But where is the bite?”

The film is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures under their newly-revived Buena Vista International label.

Ratings
IMDB: 6.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 29%
Empire: N/A