The Impossible

A movie about tragedy clearly has to be tragic, but why the overkill? The Impossible takes the level of maudlin and melancholy and cranks it to a level where you feel like your eyes and ears will either bleed or cry. After a strong start, The Impossible sinks and ultimately just ends up as silly and overworked.

The Impossible does have strengths though, definitely present in the stellar performances. Naomi Watts is groundbreaking as Maria, the non-practicing doctor turned heroine who will stop at nothing to protect her family. Ewan McGregor also shines as her husband Henry. Though he isn't given as much material to work with, when he is on screen his portrayal will demand your attention. All of the children, most notably Tom Holland as Lucas (whose name you will hear 10,000 times) deliver the goods as well. The scenes with Maria and Lucas (especially when disaster first strikes) are easily the some of the most powerful and effective scenes in the movie.

And speaking of powerful, when it comes to disaster movies, a lot of visual importance is placed on the big destruction scene. The Impossible's first wash of carnage is breathtaking. Amazing scenery, perfectly shot, frighteningly authentic and truly scary. Everything about this scene feels realistic and shines when it comes to putting the viewer into the scenes of the carnage.

And sadly, after this stunningly devastating scene, The Impossible begins to downgrade. After the carnage, The Impossible begins to drag like a corpse. There really isn't much material to work with and I felt like The Impossible ran in circles of what to fill up the screen with, leaving a lot of the last half of the movie feeling quite tedious and unneeded to further the story.

Sappyness begins to strike also. It almost feels like The Impossible is begging for your sadness, it's like a 2 hour ASPCA commercial for your humans, shoving tragedy in your face won't register as true emotion but overkill. There's too many coincidences, forced dramatic scenes and repeated material towards the last half, causing very little enjoyment to be had by the time the credits roll. The visuals & Naomi Watts' performance are on fire, but sadly that is negated by everything else coming off as completely soggy.

2/4