Review of The Impossible (2012) by Stevepulaski — 25 Jan 2013

The one thing consistent with all disaster films is you can never sit comfortably within the opening scenes because you often know what is coming and you just can bear the thought of it. J.A. Bayona's The Impossible is a picture that captures a disaster all too realistically, as it depicts the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia in 2004, killing an upwards of 300,000, destroying homes, soiling towns, and leaving families and memories in drenched and irreplaceable shambles. The thought of the last thing one sees is a wall of filthy, rushing water coming towards you at a breakneck speed is unthinkable.

When the credits finally rolled, after what seemed to be an eternity (in a good way), there was not a shred of movement from any of the eight people in the theater. We all sat and watched half the credits for about a minute before exiting. It's great to see even in a rushed society, sometimes people need to simply stop just to take something greatly moving in, before carrying on with their next line of business. I doubt the film escaped their minds during the rest of their day.