Having seen the trailers for The Impossible several times, I had almost set my heart on avoiding it altogether. The previews looked to me like we should expect a contrived tearjerker, which I find to be one of the most irritating of movie tropes. However, I do like a disaster movie, so decided to take a look.
Firstly, I will say from the top that it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting and in fact, there are large sections of the film that are brimming with intensity. The arrival of the wave itself is brilliantly realised whilst avoiding the realms of bad taste, which must be a consideration when using this kind of real world event as a backdrop to the characters' plight.
The best sequences of the film play similarly to a survival horror, though toned down to a degree. Having said that, I don't think it's quite as shocking as it thinks it is at times. There's no lack of gore in the scenes that focus on the suffering caused by the disaster and the struggle to survive, particularly in the early parts of the film. The gradual reveal of the injuries sustained is positively wince-inducing.
The bulk of the movie's problems arrive once it comes to deal with the aftermath of the tsunami. The second half of the film is plagued by predictability and cheap techniques that try, and fail, to build tension leading up to what we already know is going to happen. Clearly it couldn't just have been about pain and heartache throughout, but it could have been handled much better. Ultimately, my biggest issue was with the final third of the film, which was mostly made up of hugging and crying. Oh, and running. There was a fair amount of that too.
There are vague stabs at a deeper understanding of the human cost of the tragedy, some of which are nicely done, but in general, there's very little to suggest that we should care. There's certainly nothing that points to the people that actually live here and what this means for them, and only a cursory consideration for the countless others searching for lost loved ones.
The pick of the performances is probably Naomi Watts' Maria, particularly in the early stages. Her injuries are pretty nasty and she does a great job of conveying the fear that comes with that, as well as the desire to protect her son. The children can be borderline irritating at times, all puppy dog eyes and yelping, but they're bearable. Ewan McGregor has one excellent scene which punctuates an otherwise fairly pedestrian 'could have been anyone' kind of showing.
The Verdict:
6/10
Lays it on a bit thick in attempting to move everyone to tears, but does have its strengths, particularly in terms of the struggle for survival. Worth seeing once.
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