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Summary: Sexy Saturday Afternoon Movie!
Review: I thought this was a great movie. Nicole Kidman in here younger days, I was actually frightened at some scenes. However, I do love movies set at sea
Rating: 
Summary: a very memorable suspense thriller
Review: I watched this movie on cable on one of the less popular movie channels, and was pleasantly surprised to find it such a good one. Nicole Kidman was obviously somewhere at the beginning of her Hollywood career when she acted in this. She is refreshingly simple in her appearance, and her acting is superb - she is so expressive and she looked every bit the part for each scene she's playing. I can see why Hollywood decided to make her a megastar after performances like this. All 3 of them - Nicole Kidman, Billy Zane and Sam Neill were all fantastic actors in this film, which is also why this movie succeeds in being such a good suspense thriller. Its not too long a movie, and you can be sure you'll be holding on to your seat throughout the whole thing! Billy Zane isn't always at his best in all the movies he acts in - those of you who've seen him in other movies would know this by now - but in this gem of a movie, he really shines as an ultra-convincing psycho. He didn't overact or overplay his role and that's what made him so believable as the charismatic, charming but unpredictably mentally-twisted person his character is. Strange that I've always liked Billy Zane as an actor even though its so difficult to find him in a good movie nowadays... this is one movie I will never forget because of its great storyline, great acting, and its unique setting where almost everything takes place on a yacht drifting and drifting along in the sea... its all very nice.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: I'm like a lot of people in that I first discovered Nicole Kidman when I caught this gripping Australian thriller on cable. Though I had initially low expectations for both the film and the actress, both delivered the goods and then some. Dead Calm is that rarity amongst thrillers -- a suspenseful, scary film that actually engages the viewer and sticks in the mind after the final credits role. The plot is admirably simple and straight forward. Sam Niell and Nicole Kidman play a married couple mourning the death of their son (who dies in the film's first few minutes -- though you can see the development coming miles away, both the direction of Phillip Noyce and the performances of Neill and Kidman make the death into a realistic tragedy as opposed to a mere plot device). Looking to escape their grief and save their marriage, they board their sailboat (Neill's character is a Naval officer) and take a vacation from society. After a few days at sea, they pick up a desperate castaway (Billy Zane) who claims to be escaping from a disease-stricken pleasure cruise... This is a film that works despite of, rather than because, of its plot. Many of the character's actions don't make much logical sense... In the hands of a lesser cast or director, these flaws would certainly have meant the death of any other film. However, the talent here is all top notch. Phillip Noyce manages to emphasize how isolated his characters are without making the film itself feel overly stagy; the viewer feels the story's claustrophobia without ever feeling cramped themselves. The film's cast does a wonderful job of bringing their characters to life, despite the inconsitencies inherent in the plot. All of them are familiar enough faces that the audience feels like they know them even as the fast-paced plot unfolds but none of them are such huge stars that they seem impervious to harm. Sam Neill, of course, has made a career of playing well-meaning, upright men who have to prove themselves stronger than they might actually appear and he does an excellent job in this film. Billy Zane has always had a rather irreverent attitude to his film work and while that has kept him from becoming a major star, it makes him perfect as the film's villian. With his jittery nervousness, Zane manages to make the audience laugh without ever making his character seem to be less of a threat. It is perhaps the ultimate compliment that a film psycho can be given in that the audience enjoys his time on screen and are just as happy once he's gone. However, the film truly belongs to Nicole Kidman. Whether her character is being petulant and casually flirtatious or terrified and victimized or finally displaying an unexpected iron-clad will as she battles with Zane, Kidman is never less than riveting. Her character is a difficult one and not all of her actions add up but, through Kidman's fascinating and magnetic performance, none of that matters. After years of being overshadowed by her marriage to Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman has only recently been acknowledged as a talented actress and radiant star in her own right. Those of us who were lucky enough to see her in Dead Calm -- years before she became Mrs. Tom Cruise -- already knew that.
Rating:
Summary: STUNNING PERFORMANCE FROM A YOUTHFUL KIDMAN
Review: In Dead Calm Nicole Kidman portrays a young wife who joins her husband (Sam Neill) for an extended sea voyage, presumably to heal from the loss of their child. During the trip they encounter an abandoned ship and subsequently the quite psychotic Billy Zane. What ensues is suspenseful and frightening. This was Kidman's first major role and her screen presence at only age 20 foreshadowed a promising career. Kidman looks like the fresh-faced, near-teen she is and Neill looks every bit of 40, but sheer talent somehow makes it all work. Billy Zane absolutely chews up the scenery in his over-the-top portrayal of a madman. Compelling performances; quite good.
Rating:
Summary: A small cast doing a great job.
Review: It must be quite a challenge, to make a movie with only three real characters that can still hold the attention of the audience. Philip Noyce has actually made it work. Right from the beginning Neill, Kidman and Zane manage to keep the viewer bound to his television. The story keeps up an admirable pace and the characters truly come to life. Zane as a lunatic seems at first to be overplaying his part, but in the end you can believe he is totally crazy. Neill and Kidman as the married couple out for a cruise that get stuck with the maniac killer manage to convey a true affection for each other despite the recent shock to their relationship. My only objection is the end. I know, that cinematic psycho's are nearly indestructible, but the way Billy Zane, seriously injured several times, manages to keep on coming is suspending disbelieve a little too far.
Rating:
Summary: Good flick, bad ending
Review: It's a fine movie with fine characters, weird music, one awesome dog, but an ending that will make you angry
Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful!!!! A Must See!!!!
Review: Nothing I say can express how good this movie is!! It's an amazingly suspensful movie! The storyline is easily believable and terrifying!!! Give it a chance, I promise you won't be disappointed! The film begins with the traumatic auto accident that injures Raye (Kidman) and kills her young son. The couple, John and Raye (played by Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill) take a sea voyage for some together and healing time. About 1200 miles from land, a man takes a dingy to their boat, and tells them a pack of lies about the misfortune of the people on his boat nearby. John seeing some obvious holes in the man's story, locks him in the cabin when he falls asleep, and goes to the other boat to investigate. That's when the trouble starts... John is left behind when the nutcase wakes and escapes from the locked cabin and, in a fight with Raye, eventually drives the boat away leaving John behind. The couple, through the other hardships of their life, now must deal with this crazy lunatic... and fight for their lives miles and miles out at sea - with no help and no longer a radio to call for help!!! This is one spectacular thriller!!! Definitely my all time favorite!!!!
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Summary: review of deal calm
Review: Ok this movie is for the all time Billy Zane fan. Not only is have a good plot you get to see Billy's hiney. Tis a must see
Rating:
Summary: The Original Survivor
Review: Released in 1989, this low-budget film is remarkable for several reasons. Most obviously, it was Nicole Kidman's first leading role, which she handles brilliantly. At 20, we can already see the star quality and intensity of concentration that distinguishes much of her later work. As Rae Ingram, she hits so many levels from adoring wife to loving and then grieving mother, seductress, warrior, and survivor. The special effects at the beginning of the movie where the child is flung through the windshield, while emotionally unpleasant, are well executed. As the plot mechanism which leads John & Rae into the dead calm cruise, what follows with the struggle with Hughie Warriner effectively puts the grieving out of mind. Sam Neill as John Ingram does a great job of playing the loving husband, grieving father, and skilled naval officer who winds up stranded on a sinking boat and must use hits wits & skill to survive. Billy Zane as Hughie seems to enjoy letting loose as the crazed killer on the high seas. Australian director Phillip Noyce would later go on to make several big-budget features with Harrison Ford, "Clear & Present Danger" & "Patriot Games." "Dead Calm" was the feature that first got Hollywood's attention for him. He does an amazingly masterful job of crafting an intense, sometimes too intense, experience on the boat that not only holds our attention but rivets us to the outcome. As I see the ads for the "Survivor" series on television, this film is kind of like the original "survivor" with Kidman being the million-dollar winner. Last but not least, the dog is a real character in the piece and one of the cutest of canines. "Dead Calm" is amazing because they accomplished so much with so little. When Zane's head finally lights up at the end, we breathe the final sigh of relief. U snooze, U lose with this diamond in the rough. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Do strangers in the movies ever do you any good?
Review: See DEAD CALM. I had heard nothing about this film when (1988) it came out and caught it at the movies on a whim. Today the three actors are all better known but DEAD CALM is worth seeing for its quality (Unlike, for instance, watching the early '80s bomb LOSIN' IT to see then-unknowns Tom Cruise and Shelley Long). Could you imagine saving a stranger whose boat's sinking, just to find out he's psychotic? As with many of these well-this-is-a-fine-mess flicks, DEAD CALM ends a bit shaky, but you will be rooting for Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill and may not mind.
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