Review of All Is Lost (2013) by Josh W — 18 Sep 2014

I was definitely interested the whole time because I love the concept of a one person survival movie on the open seas. And it is definitely a heart-stopping ride at times just seeing this man's chances of survival dwindling.

However, the movie just didn't suck me in completely like it should've. It was awesome to see Robert Redford as a lead once more, but I just thought he was playing present-day Robert Redford. We don't really get to know who he is, other than the opening monologue in the form of a letter to his wife, and how he behaves on his boat and how he responds to danger.

And for that reason, I didn't care about his character or what he was going through too much. All I knew was that he was allegedly a wealthy man taking a trip alone on the harsh seas on his houseboat.

That's all. Plus there were moments where it looked like the storm sequences were shot in front of green screen and took away from the immersion. The ending, however, was satisfying in an obvious, yet ambiguous way.

It was a movie I really wanted to love, but ended up just thinking it was average. Cast Away on a boat, this is not.