Review of All Is Lost (2013) by Foxgrove — 17 Oct 2013

All is most certainly lost including 106 minutes of my life watching this turgid drama in which the waves are as crashing as the boredom. Robert Redford's one man show is unsurprisingly disappointing. For one character to hold centre stage for an entire movie is a tall order that rarely succeeds and that is definitely the case here.Set the scenario on a boat and you have double trouble. What we actually have here is one man pitting his wits against nature, in this case a succession of storms. We never really know what the Redford character is doing out there and the time frame presented as 8 days doesn't actually seem credible in what happens on screen. Critics will reach for there list of superlatives (and they have yawn yawn) and praise Redford to the skies to be sure, but I find it hard to believe that the general audience member will warm to this monotonous indulgence.

On the plus side there is some very accomplished cinematography and I must admit that the later scenes in the dinghy are better than what has gone before. The last scene is actually the best in the film. However, it is certainly not enough and when all is said and done this is a boat trip definitely not worth taking.