Rating: Summary: White Squall - One of the Best Films Ever Made! Review: White Squall is my personal favorite, not just because of the story and the characters, but because we seldom see movies that tackle male bonding so deep you even can't help but cry while watching it. I could relate to the story because some parts have resemblance to my life. Great cinematography, great acting, very heartwarming. Ridley Scott just became one of my favorite directors after watching the movie. How I wish I was one of the characters. I particularly like the role of Scott Wolf, and actually, he's my favorite, too, because I see myself in him. Genuine FRIENDSHIP, teamwork, and unity are best described by this film.
Rating: Summary: I don't know why this isn't a classic Review: Maybe "classic" is a little bit much, but this movie is probably the most underrated movie I have ever seen. I don't remember much about it in the theater and don't know many people that have watched it. It is one of the top "coming of age" movies made in the past decade or so. If you liked Dead Poet's Society (DPS is better because of Robin Williams) or A Separate Peace by John Knowles, you will like this movie. It is a movie that leads you on a journey, using a group of rich kids that signed up for a year at sea. Jeff Bridges is the tough captain that sets out to instill discipline and teach them that they must respect him, the ship, and, most importantly, each other. I won't give away the ending, but the movie succeeds in delivering its messages of honor and individual responsibility. It does a fantastic job of delivering this message while leading you along a journey with Jeff Bridges and the crew of the ship.
Rating: Summary: A rare clunker from Ridley Scott Review: Sending teenage boys off on a long ocean voyage is an excellent idea, but it totally defeats the purpose if we then have to watch a movie about them. The gang of juvenile delinquents that sails this boat is so repellant that when the titular storm comes along, we're cheering for the storm. Jeff Bridges is cast against type, with disastrous results. As you would expect from Ridley Scott, the cinematography is beautiful. But none of the characters are sympathetic (I couldn't tell the teenagers apart anyway), and nothing about the plot works or draws you in. A rare dud from auteur director Scott.
Rating: Summary: Better by far than Perfect Storm Review: White Squall is a very enjoyable film and I agree that it is very similar to the Disney family films, with maybe a bit more four letter words but regardless, it's quality family entertainment. Jeff Bridges never fails to churn out a great performance. I was very impressed with Jeremy Sisto's searing, complex performance as well. It's not easy to lump this film in with Perfect Storm, since it is better by far, and touched me to the heart that much deeper.
Rating: Summary: Sailing action with good story line Review: Captain takes misfit kids sailing to teach how to be responsible and to grow up. Good sailing action movie.
Rating: Summary: Breathtaking, beautiful and bittersweet Review: A deeply touching true story about the journey from childhood to adulthood, seen from the eyes of boys on board a ocean school headed by Jeff Bridges. Immaculately filmed on the open sea and full of the best actors, young and older, this is quite possibly Ridley Scott's most heartfelt work. Where Aliens and Thelma & Louise were loud and brash, White Squall was more subtle but packs a heavier emotional punch than any of his movies to date, especially when the white squall hits the ship and sinks it. This is entertainment at its finest.
Rating: Summary: A lost movie Review: A great movie that does not receive the play time it deserves. It is a story of friendship and tragedey. The actors put up a great performance and really make you feel as if you were in that doomed ship yourself. Do yourself a favor and watch this movie.
Rating: Summary: Must See!!! Review: Gorgeous!!! One of the best movie that I ever have seen!!! It tells so much about the most important things in our lives. Watching this film you understand what does friendship mean, you understand what does it mean to be together as a team, what does it mean to depend on your team-mate and what does it mean to lose someone you love. While I was watching this film I cried...but I didn't cry about the people who died in the ship crash, I cried about these human relations, about the friendship that was stronger than anything else, I cried because in the real life I have never experienced that kind of support from my friends...and I think I'll never will. MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!!!
Rating: Summary: WOW Review: THE most underrated movie I have ever seen. My all-time favorite. Great acting, amazing scenary. Ridley Scott is a truly amazing director. Genius.
Rating: Summary: Old fashioned adventure/tragedy Review: "White Squall," the almost-forgotten 1996 high seas motion picture from acclaimed director Ridley Scott, is the kind of old fashioned adventure Hollywood and even Walt Disney used to churn out in the 1940s and 1950s. If you squint your eyes just right, you can almost see Gregory Peck or John Mills playing the lead role rather than the comfortably aged Jeff Bridges. But what sets "White Squall" apart from that long ago era of filmmaking are the modern conflicts the handful of youthful protagonists, high school students on a seasonal seafaring voyage, must go through. These kids, effectively played by such future stars as Scott Wolf and Ryan Phillipe, are dealing with a variety of painful issues including parental conflict, parental control and society rejection. What they learn from their stern captain/teacher and his colorfully eccentric crew are the lessons most children must eventually embrace -- the rewards of teamwork, discipline and nobility. Bridges, in yet another terrific performance to add to his respectful resume, plays a no-nosense ship captain who leads a group of high school students on a seafaring voyage across the Caribbean and beyond. During their adventure, they encounter exotic locales, the Cuban military, first love and eventually, a terrifying storm bearing the ominous meteorological phenomenon known as the white squall. Most viewers have probably seen such high adventures before, and the eventual resolution, where the boys band together as one to honor their befallen captain, is certainly not the most original of conclusions. But just beneath the surface of "White Squall," likely fueled by the vision of director Ridley Scott, is a celluoid tribute to a simpler more innocent time. The film, based on a true story, takes place in 1962 -- an era before man walked on the moon, before John F. Kennedy was assassinated, before computers ruled our household. "White Squall" is an effective tribute to old fashioned values, gritty teamwork and the simple truths of humanity. Viewers desentisized by so much dreck that Hollywood offers today, will learn these truths much like the high school students on the deck of this creaking schooner. Scott whose work has often relied on flashy special effects ("Alien," "Blade Runner," "Gladiator"), has given us a film that glorifies the basic values of an innocent, golden time. When the white squall of the film's title slams into the ship, we are witnessing the end of an idyllic era and a storied way of life. A poignant, touching experience, and one of Scott's finest films (which says a lot for this challenging, gifted director), "White Squall" is the kind of powerful moviegoing surprise viewers will want to welcome aboard again and again.
|