Movie Review: “Adrift” the movie isn’t quite as inspirational as the true story that inspired it

Movie Review: “Adrift” (PG-13)

“Adrift” is in the grand tradition of dramatic survival stories like “Cast Away” and “All is Lost,” only this film is based on a real-life incident. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that even though “Adrift” is actually based on true events, as a movie it doesn’t come off as quite as powerful as the very real story that inspired it.

In “Adrift,” Shailene Woodley is Tami Oldham, a free spirit whose desire to get as far away from her native San Diego as possible leads her to Tahiti, where she meets solitary sailor Richard Sharp (Sam Clafin). Almost immediately, these two individuals make a connection, and it isn’t long before an inevitable romance begins to blossom. Richard and Tami eventually take their romance to the open sea by way of an epic sailing excursion, but a catastrophic hurricane ultimately plunges them into a deep-sea nightmare. From that point on, the survival instincts kick in as an inexperienced Oldham and a severely injured Sharp desperately attempt to navigate their damaged boat back to civilization.

Courageous director Baltasar Kormakur (“Everest”) and his fearless crew earned my respect for daring to shoot a great deal of this picture on the open water. If you’ve heard all the horror stories revolving around productions such as “Jaws” and “Waterworld,” you know how difficult an on-location ocean shoot can be. It can be unpredictable, taxing, and incredibly time consuming, so my hat’s off to team “Adrift” for diving into the deep end in an effort to make this picture as authentic as possible. Further props to Kormakur and his director of photography, the gifted Robert Richardson, because “Adrift” is certainly beautiful to look at.

All of that said, “Adrift” is never quite as profound or inspirational as it aspires to be. Kormakur’s choice to jump around in terms of the film’s timeline is a solid one, but the subsequent fight for survival as presented here isn’t as intense as one might expect. Beyond that, “Adrift” features a twist of sorts that is both predictable and gimmicky. While this movie is actually based on a book penned by the real Tami Oldham Ashcraft, and while the majority of the proceedings in this adaptation come directly from her memoirs, some of these plot developments don’t quite work in cinematic form.

“Adrift” has been a labor of love for Woodley, and to her great credit, she digs deep both physically and emotionally to bring Ashcraft’s horrific ordeal to the big screen. Her moments of panic, frustration, and pure exhaustion feel genuine. Further still, Woodley and a very likable Clafin do manage to generate real chemistry. Their courtship in the earlier portions of the movie do lend much needed weight to the overall proceedings, and it’s easy to see how and why Tami and Robert fell for each other.

There are aspects of “Adrift” that are well worth recommending: the cinematography, the performances, an intense hurricane sequence, etc. Ultimately, though, this gripping real-life story would have been more powerful had it been delivered as a documentary, because as a narrative film it tends to fall on the melodramatic side.

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