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Summary: Y A W N !
Review: I could not suspend reality even for a second here. The whole thing is way too contrived. It made me happy my DVD player has a big fast forward button.
Rating:
Summary: The plot is exactly what you imagine it would be.
Review: Decent visual effects, but the plot is exactly what you feared it would be.
Rating: 
Summary: Good effects, bad story line.
Review: I've heard the story of this movie on several television shows before I saw it. I admit the movie was boring (the story line), but I liked it. The special effects were about the best part. I really feel for those poor men. How frightening to be out in the middle of the ocean with no possibility of help coming, knowing the worst thing that could happen is going to happen. Like the title of my summary says, Good effects, bad story-line.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Quite Perfect
Review: The Perfect Storm pits men against nature in this mediocre film adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name. It begins with the glorious home-coming of the fishing vessel The Andrea Gail after a poor catch. Any sailor will immeadietely begin to feel a little nostalgic at this point, remembering times when they pulled in to port. How nice. However, the story failed to really grab me, and make me believe the story, as the book did, despite the fact I knew the movie was based on the real experiences. The movie deals with some romantic plots (A character by the name of Bugsy had the most realistic) and a brief fight between a couple of shipmates, and finally the doomed ship gets underway. Unfortunately, I still had to wait for the storm. Of course, there was a shark attack, which I couldn't believe was included in the movie. And then one of the two shipmates who got in a fight gets pulled overboard, and other one saves him in a beautiful example of a classic Hollywood cliche.Then the storm comes in all it's horrifying glory. Finally, the part I had been waiting for. It brought flashbacks from my own experiences sailing in inclement weather. It sort of justified the shark attack and the scene with the sailor being pulled overboard. The actors mostly did a fine job, considering the material they were working with. George Clooney did great as a grizzled fishing captian, and Mark Wahlberg was a pretty boy with a pretty girlfriend. Surprisingly, everyone was able to maintain their New England accents, which made the scenes in port a little more believable. The movie had some strong points, but unfortunately, some very weak, cliched, points. It had a lot of potential, but it didn't live up to it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: Whoa, what's with all of the negative reviews?? In a time when dumb action movies rule the silver screen (M:I 2, etc.), along comes this 'perfectly' crafted thriller by Wolfgang Peterson ("Outbreak", "In the line of fire", "Das Boot", "Air Force One") with emotion and intensity. With a gigantic score by James Horner, this is the summer's 2nd best movie (after GLADIATOR). And the negative reviews really don't make any sense at all
Rating:
Summary: Give Em A Break!
Review: I think many of the other reviewers were unduly harsh in their ratings. This was a mildly entertaining movie, and not at all a bad way to spend a night at home. I did give it 3 stars because I doubt I'll watch it again(plan to give it away)... maybe this is a better one to just rent, enjoy, and return.
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Summary: The book was by far much better
Review: I have to agree with some previous reviews that this movie wasn't great. I first read the book, which was absolutely spectuacular, then decided to watch the movie. Wrong choice. This movie chose to simply skim the surface of the characters and situations. If you read the book, which surprisingly isn't all that long, it tells very in depth information about the fisherman's lives and such. I do, however, have to point out to some of the previous reviewers that this is a true story and contrary to your disappointment, there isn't a "story-line" per say, but simply the telling of events leading up to the terrible tragedy. As for the visual effects, they were unextraordinary. I am studying to become a meteorologist, so I know what truly massive waves, violent storm clouds and hurricane force winds look and act like, and it really wasn't what they had in the movie. To sum up, I simply feel that if the director of this movie had stuck with the book as closely as possible (which was written with almost 100% accuracy), then the movie would not have been nearly as disappointing.
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Summary: Book Was A Lot Better
Review: I know that movies rarely live up to the status of the accompanying book, but this one wasn't even close. This film was pretty far from "perfect." The Perfect Storm tells the tragic story of the crew of the fishing boat, the Andrea Gail. George Clooney plays the captain of this ragged crew that has not carried its load as of late. They set off and bring in the largest haul of their careers only to meet up with a fierce storm. If you see this film to see the special effects, you will be sadly disappointed. If you see this movie for a good storyline, you will be even more disappointed. This film didn't have anything mesh together well. The plot didn't allow for any character development, except for the very beginning of the movie where we are briefly introduced to the families. This made it really hard to feel for the characters, which is where this film really goes wrong. It did not do justice to the real men who died in this tragedy. Even more troublesome, the intense action scenes, which probably was the main selling point for the film, were severely damaged due to the most inappropriate music that could have ever been chosen. The one true bright spot was Mark Wahlberg. Not only did he truly look the part of his character, but he continued to impress me with his seemingly good acting ability. His timing was perfect, and his on-screen candor was excellent. Unfortunately, the script's dialogue was loaded with so many cliches, it took away from his stellar performance, as well as the other actor's. This movie was quite a disappointment. Simply put, if you have ever read the book, please don't tarnish it with this film.
Rating: 
Summary: What a perfect load of rubbish
Review: The best bit was when the big wave came along and put messrs Clooney, Wahlberg, et al out of their misery. It's a pity they couldn't have crashed the boat into the pier and sunk right at the beginning as that would have saved us from sitting through two hours of this rot masquerading as high drama. They should make a movie about the harsh lives of cubicle dwellers, how we have to brave rainstorms, etc. to go get our lunch from the deli & so on.
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Summary: "Das Boot" for dim bulbs
Review: What can I say? P.U. Poor Wolfgang - he borrows material shamelessly from his own "Das Boot", from the opening "party" (funny how these Glouchester types are even cruder than the U-Boat crews!) to the stocking-up of stores on-board to the shot of the departing ship (although at that point, *I* was whistling "a threeee hour tour"....) But where "Das Boot" was authentic right down to the claustrophobic set, "Storm" gets downright silly. I was astonished at the scene (obviously made-up to create empathy for our silly sailors) where one man gets dragged overboard and two other hard-drinkin', hard-SMOKING guys dive right in after him and swim about 100 yards UNDERWATER in a HURRICANE, FIND HIM, grab the poor sap, and then CATCH UP to the boat. Uh-huh, yeah, OK. THAT'S what kind of movie ya got here, folks. (I also want to know the secret of how they managed to light those cigarettes in a hurricane, while we're at it.) Let's not even get into the total absence of life vests, use of transponders, or why the poor TV weather-guy is made to look like a villain. ALL of the characters were of the flimsiest cardboard (except George Clooney, poor guy, who simply can NOT be ANYbody other than George Clooney: dress him up in surgical scrubs, a sailor suit, desert camo fatigues - same George.) The James Horner soundtrack suffers from extreme emotional bloat - but the RANGE of emotions is from drippy to gooey to simply sacharine. Ugh. And was it my imagination, or did those big bad waves GROWL just like the tornadoes in this flick's foster-father "Twister"? No, I haven't read the book. I've read "South" (long before "Into Thin Air" re-popularized the disaster genre) and several books on Great Lakes shipping disasters. I've heard that the book is a fine look into the chain of decisions that seemed reasonable at the time but lead inevitably to the watery fate depicted. This film, though, is a waterlogged piece of Hollywood-ized history, insulting to all but the most feeble of intelligences and yet another example of CGI technology overcoming plot and character development. Better "adversity at sea" movies: along with "Das Boot", there's "The Caine Mutiny", "The Cruel Sea", or even "Moby Dick" (the original, not the one with Capt. Picard.) Leave this hulk for the video scavengers.
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