Review of The Impossible (2012) by Nesbitt10 — 06 Feb 2013

"The Impossible" is a solid, well-made disaster film fueled by the human spirit fighting for survival with fine performances, especially by Naomi Watts. "The Impossible" faces and never quite overcomes, Ocean tsunami sets up an excellent premises in terms of showing the audience the aftermath of such an extravagant human atrocity. However, "The Impossible" feels every bit average, never rising above its own genre conventions--but it compensates with fine performances and outstanding realistic effects. The tsunami sets up the plot and the rest of the film-the catastrophic situation allows the audience to sense the aftermath of such an overwhelming human atrocity. However, "The Impossible" feels every bit average, never rising above its own genre conventions. "The Impossible" soon becomes a painful experience to endure; not for the reasons one might expect, either.

When the tsunami slams into the resort (in the first 15 minutes), Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry (Ewan McGregor) are taking their family to Thailand for the Christmas period, hoping to enjoy a festive season complete with unflinching sunshine and exotic beaches. Arriving on Christmas Eve, the family rejoice through the 25th, savoring their time together in the island paradise. However, on Boxing Day a massive Tsunami crashes into their resort, leaving them separated and facing one of the nastiest natural disasters of modern times. The first half of the movie unfolds as a survivalist picture, pitting the characters against horrific conditions and devastating conditions--creating gripping tension in the process. There are inspirational moments of perseverance, families reuniting, people pulling together and overcoming. The film's most dramatic sequences focus on Lucas (Todd Holland), assigning himself the role of his mother's lifeguard and protector. However, as the film continues it becomes more disjointed with seamless wandering as it stumbles toward its denouement. In relation to seamless wandering--Ewan McGregor's performance just doesn't nearly stack up next to Naomi's Oscar worthy performance. As the husband, separated from his wife and searching for her, McGregor finds himself walking aimlessly and hopeless-- he does a lot of tripping or falling through floors and screaming. Even worse, it's through McGregor's role that we meet other people searching for family members, and this hint of the broader story makes the movie's little story seem trivial. What Juan Antonio Bayona is trying to do with "The Impossible" is honorable, but it's hampered by a weak script that does absolutely nothing with an endless number of possibilities. There are so many unique and truly tragic stories that spawned from the 2004 tsunami, but it feels like none of these possibilities were explored here. By the end of the film, I was bitterly scoffing to myself as the family was flown away on a private airplane to the safety of another country while many other families were left behind with missing mothers and fathers and sons and daughters. The story of this family just isn't as whole-heartedly inspiring as it could have been. I'm aware of the purpose of each character. They exist only to serve as a component of the guiding narrative that takes us on a "tour" of the aftermath caused by the tsunami. But because of this, the characters are nothing but cardboard cutouts of people. They're not interesting or worth sympathizing for in the most basic cinematic way because there's nothing distinguishing them from the hundreds of thousands of other people. But when watching the actual footage posted on You Tube, and listening to the real victims-- their gut-wrenching stories of their experiences, the movie fails to capture the same reaction of astonishment.