Amazon.co.uk Review
In his direction of The Hurricane, veteran filmmaker Norman Jewison understands that slavish loyalty to factual detail is no guarantee of compelling screen biography. In telling the story of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter--who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1967 and spent nearly two decades in jail--Jewison and his screenwriters compress time, combine characters, and rearrange events with a nonchalance that would be galling if they didn't remain honest to the core truth of Carter's ordeal. Because of that emotional integrity--and because Denzel Washington brings total conviction to his title role--The Hurricane rises above the confines of biographical fidelity to embrace higher values of courage, compassion, and ultimate justice.
Jewison is woefully heavy-handed in his treatment of the fictionalised, absurdly villainous detective (Dan Hedaya) who zealously plots to keep Carter in jail, and anyone familiar with Carter's story may object to the film's simplified account. But what matters here is the shining star of hope that is Lesra (Vicellous Reon Shannon), the Brooklyn teenager who rejuvenates Carter's legal battle in the early 1980s. This surrogate father-son relationship is what revives Carter's hope for family and future, and makes The Hurricane so engrossing and emotionally effective. Lesra's real-life Canadian mentors are compressed from nine characters to three, but their efforts are superbly dramatised, and Jewison hits the small but important grace notes that make a good film even better. By its final scenes, The Hurricane conveys the rich, rewarding satisfaction of surviving a difficult but valuable journey of mind, body, and soul.--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews:
Hurricane.......2007-12-16
This film will change your life. If you ever feel low and that life has dealt you some cruel blows, you have to watch this. Nothing you have been through can compare to this and who can have the strength to deal that all Hurricane had on his plate? An innocent man with a shining future in boxing, he was to spend most of his life in jail for a crime he did not commit, all because of the intense hatred of one man. And if you ever feel that you are too insignificant to make a difference, see how one young boy changed what no one else could, with his love, his fire and his determination. You will cry, you will cheer, and you will be glad you have the life you do.
Justice could really be for all !.......2006-08-08
This film is a true story. It is important for you to know that because some of the facts and reactions seem excessive, and yet... It all starts with a bunch of rowdy black kids who run across an older white man, a local personality who starts playing with these boys of ten or eleven and these boys decide to fight against it, probably without knowing what they were fighting against, except that it was not correct to let an older white man touch you if you were a little black boy. Local police and justice officials will go along a road that leads the same boy who is arrested for « molesting » the older man to a triple death sentence for a triple murder that he never committed and that will never be investigated properly. The film is absolutely outstanding because it sets the emphasis on this black man, an ex-world champion in boxing, transcending this fate and getting so high in his meditation that he is truly free in prison and truly divine in his mind. This Hurricane thus set as an example and model to anyone whose freedom is endangered, we can move to the 15 year old black boy from Brooklyn who buys and reads Rubin Carter's book in a booksale for 25 cents. His own life is a series of accidental cicumstances that lead him from deprevation among alcoholics to some achievement in a « host family » in Canada. This black boy, Lesra, identifies with Rubin and gets involved in his case. His Canadian guardians get along with this involvement and they will eventually bring the truth out and convince a federal court that the man is innocent and has to be released from prison immediately. What is important here is how these people react and organize their search and how it succeeds thanks to some nearly immaterial circumstances that go their way and not the simple automatic and habitual way. It is such cases that justify people in thinking there is hope in our societies where the poor cannot have any justice at all because they cannot afford good lawyers from the very start, and later on it is too late : the initial damage can rarely be redeemed, and yet some cases are there to prove it could, even if it does not most of the time. This is one of the films that should be studied in details in all high schools all over the world.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne
Unbelievable.......2006-02-08
A trully amazing film - If there were an option for 10 stars it would get it.
Its a MUST WATCH regardless of your tastes.
Excellent but not all that true.......2005-06-29
Title says it all really, meant to based on a true story but a lot of facts have bee left out, Still an excellent film but loses its appeal once you find out the true story. Search internet for more details.....
The Hurricane.......2005-06-15
The Hurricane is the bio-documentary / dramatised life story of Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter, a black Afro-American boxer who was wrongly jailed for murder in 1967 and spent the best part of the next two decades in jail trying to clear his name.
On a pure dramatic film basis this is perhaps one of the best ever portrayals of a tortured soul I have ever seen. Denzel Washington is simply spellbinding as the tragic Carter and produces one of the finest ever film performances in recent years. Apart from the wonderful solo scenes he also works brilliantly well with Vicellous Reon Shannon, who plays Lesra Martin, the young student who becomes the catalyst for Carter to once again fight for his freedom.
There are so other great supporting roles from the rest of the cast including all three of Liev Schriber, Deborah Kara Unger and John Hannah who play the three guardians of Lesra. And great to see Clancy Brown again, and this time playing a nice prison guard as opposed to his usual roles!
After watching the film it was slightly disappointing to find out however that the director had taken great liberties with the "true" story and although the film does contain a "disclaimer" at the start it was still unsatisfactory to discover that perhaps Rubin Carter wasn't the total innocent soul the film portrays. That said it does explain some of the more disjointed scenes in the film but doesn't excuse them. Both the scene when Carter as a young boy stabs the white man and the scene when he returns from the Army to be immediately arrested by the waiting Detective Della Pesca are head scratching to say the least and stick out like sore thumbs. When you discover that Carter stabbed the man in a robbery and that Della Pesca was a completely fictional character you do feel slightly cheated.
As I say fantastic performance by Washington but a star lost for making Carter into an angel when making a film about him being a wrongly convicted devil would have been just as effective.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Setting out for the one last catch that will make up for a lacklustre fishing season, Captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney) pushes his boat the Andrea Gail out to the waters of the Flemish Cap off Nova Scotia for what will be a huge swordfish haul. While his crew is gathering fish, three storm fronts (including a hurricane) collide to create a "perfect storm" of colossal force, and Billy's path back to Gloucester, Massachusetts, takes them right smack into the middle of it. Wolfgang Petersen's adaptation of Sebastian Junger's seafaring best-seller is a faithful if by-the-numbers true-story account of a monster storm that rocked New England in 1991, specifically Tyne's commercial fishing boat and its crew. Junger's tale fashioned a compelling if staid narrative out of seemingly disparate events, but this film adaptation tends to flatten out the story into a conventional if absorbing story of man vs nature, as the crew fights for survival against the awesome waves the storm kicks up. The central part of the film, which cuts between the Andrea Gail's fight to stay afloat and the attempts of the coast guard to rescue a yacht in peril, is suspenseful action of the first degree, aided by some awesome computer-generated waves.
Still, it's a long way to that action, with an extended first act that consists mainly of stoic men, crying women and a fair amount of "don't go out into the sea" dialogue--in other words, a compelling story has been shoehorned into standard summer movie fare. It's too bad, as Peterson assembled an excellent cast--including Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, John C. Reilly and William Fichtner among them--but seems to opt for only a surface exploration of these characters, though Clooney seems to have a touch of Captain Ahab in him. You may still be won over by the movie, but for a more in-depth portrait, go to Junger's book for the missing details. --Mark Englehart
Customer Reviews:
The Perfect Flop.......2008-02-05
This film is absolutely abysmal. They know i giant storm is out there but those fish just have to be caught. The moments of sentiment between the fishermen and their wives are utterly unconvincing and when the storm finally arrives its a complete disappointment. I love extreme weather conditions (in particular large waves) and was hopeful of at least some good effects and late drama in an otherwise hopeless film but even the perfect storm itself was a disappointment. The camera flicks from a computer generated wave to a boat where it looks like stage hands are just throwing buckets of water over the cast the back to the CGI rubbish and so on with occasional corny lines and cast member dying to mix it up. The idea for this film is great and it could have been so good but then came the script the acting and the directing. Like the other guy said, "this film does not deserve a star" but unfortunately you have to give it at least 1 so here it is.
WAVE GOODBYE.......2007-10-24
A fairly basic storyline but great special effects during the storm scenes.
A fishing trawler is caught in the most terrifying storm and her crew, led by George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, battle to stay alive and afloat. Unlikely ending.
Great film unless you're booked on a cruise.
New England Fishermen.......2007-10-05
I feel like I am in the minority here...but I like the movie. And I have heard the People of the town thought the movie company did justice as well. How do you tell a story of a lost fishing boat where all hands were lost. We do not know what actually happened on board, and which of the subplots and events that were added in to brighten up what was an otherwise sad story. The Andrea Gail sets out for a late-season fishing voyage right before a number of meteorological events trigger one of the largest storms in history on the Eastern Seaboard. We get to see many events that occurred including the perils of a yacht, a Coast Guard helicopter crew, and the fishermen on the Andrea Gail.
I feel they captured the town and fishermen. The time at the beginning of the movie is required so that you can see why the men were willing to take risk going out so late in the season to fish again. I enjoyed the little look into New England fishery.
The boat, the men and the action on the high seas are great to watch. The storm effects (CGI I'm sure) were also very cool. Both George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg do a fine job as the captain and crewman, respectively, of the doomed Andrea Gail. I will keep my DVD and watch it again....
True Story let down by Hollywood in places.......2007-07-18
I'm inclined to agree with those that get fed up with people being critical of a plot that based on a true story. We all know Hollywood can and does change things it can't be bothered to convey but still its not the films fault that these are the events of this story. The Andrea Gail and its captain George Clooney (who is superb) are desperate to get the catch they need. Clooney refuses advice to return home and becomes caught out by Mother Nature who whips up a monsterous storm of horrific proportions that eventually causes deadly problems for the boat and its crew. I dread to think how hideous those sea storms really are as these CGI waves are a brilliant testamant to that but can never get close to the true power and horror the sea can achieve. A very good film worthy of its place in a collection.
Read the book.......2007-06-05
This is a solid film, which does it's best to convey Jungers book in 2 hours. Of course its had the Hollywood treatment- what 'true story' hasn't?
Its worth remembering that it is a true story- those reveiwers who complain about the 'plot'... not much you can do to alter actual events, is there? I especially liked the reveiw which described the pilots descision to ditch as 'ridiculous'- a descision which saved the lives of all on board.
Also worth remembering, is that this as not not meant to be a docomentary- once the radio antennae was ripped from the Andrea Gail, of course no one can know what went on, but the film did a good job of creating a plausible, if overly dramatic finale, which fitted in with what is known about what really happened.
I would recomend the book to anyone who is inerested, as inevitably it provides a fuller and truer account.
Also recomended is the book 'That Others May Live' by Jack Brehm, who was involved in the coodination of the rescue effort.
Amazon.co.uk Review
In his direction of The Hurricane, veteran filmmaker Norman Jewison understands that slavish loyalty to factual detail is no guarantee of compelling screen biography. In telling the story of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter--who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1967 and spent nearly two decades in jail--Jewison and his screenwriters compress time, combine characters, and rearrange events with a nonchalance that would be galling if they didn't remain honest to the core truth of Carter's ordeal. Because of that emotional integrity--and because Denzel Washington brings total conviction to his title role--The Hurricane rises above the confines of biographical fidelity to embrace higher values of courage, compassion, and ultimate justice.
Jewison is woefully heavy-handed in his treatment of the fictionalised, absurdly villainous detective (Dan Hedaya) who zealously plots to keep Carter in jail, and anyone familiar with Carter's story may object to the film's simplified account. But what matters here is the shining star of hope that is Lesra (Vicellous Reon Shannon), the Brooklyn teenager who rejuvenates Carter's legal battle in the early 1980s. This surrogate father-son relationship is what revives Carter's hope for family and future, and makes The Hurricane so engrossing and emotionally effective. Lesra's real-life Canadian mentors are compressed from nine characters to three, but their efforts are superbly dramatised, and Jewison hits the small but important grace notes that make a good film even better. By its final scenes, The Hurricane conveys the rich, rewarding satisfaction of surviving a difficult but valuable journey of mind, body, and soul.--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews:
Hurricane.......2007-12-16
This film will change your life. If you ever feel low and that life has dealt you some cruel blows, you have to watch this. Nothing you have been through can compare to this and who can have the strength to deal that all Hurricane had on his plate? An innocent man with a shining future in boxing, he was to spend most of his life in jail for a crime he did not commit, all because of the intense hatred of one man. And if you ever feel that you are too insignificant to make a difference, see how one young boy changed what no one else could, with his love, his fire and his determination. You will cry, you will cheer, and you will be glad you have the life you do.
Justice could really be for all !.......2006-08-08
This film is a true story. It is important for you to know that because some of the facts and reactions seem excessive, and yet... It all starts with a bunch of rowdy black kids who run across an older white man, a local personality who starts playing with these boys of ten or eleven and these boys decide to fight against it, probably without knowing what they were fighting against, except that it was not correct to let an older white man touch you if you were a little black boy. Local police and justice officials will go along a road that leads the same boy who is arrested for « molesting » the older man to a triple death sentence for a triple murder that he never committed and that will never be investigated properly. The film is absolutely outstanding because it sets the emphasis on this black man, an ex-world champion in boxing, transcending this fate and getting so high in his meditation that he is truly free in prison and truly divine in his mind. This Hurricane thus set as an example and model to anyone whose freedom is endangered, we can move to the 15 year old black boy from Brooklyn who buys and reads Rubin Carter's book in a booksale for 25 cents. His own life is a series of accidental cicumstances that lead him from deprevation among alcoholics to some achievement in a « host family » in Canada. This black boy, Lesra, identifies with Rubin and gets involved in his case. His Canadian guardians get along with this involvement and they will eventually bring the truth out and convince a federal court that the man is innocent and has to be released from prison immediately. What is important here is how these people react and organize their search and how it succeeds thanks to some nearly immaterial circumstances that go their way and not the simple automatic and habitual way. It is such cases that justify people in thinking there is hope in our societies where the poor cannot have any justice at all because they cannot afford good lawyers from the very start, and later on it is too late : the initial damage can rarely be redeemed, and yet some cases are there to prove it could, even if it does not most of the time. This is one of the films that should be studied in details in all high schools all over the world.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne
Unbelievable.......2006-02-08
A trully amazing film - If there were an option for 10 stars it would get it.
Its a MUST WATCH regardless of your tastes.
Excellent but not all that true.......2005-06-29
Title says it all really, meant to based on a true story but a lot of facts have bee left out, Still an excellent film but loses its appeal once you find out the true story. Search internet for more details.....
The Hurricane.......2005-06-15
The Hurricane is the bio-documentary / dramatised life story of Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter, a black Afro-American boxer who was wrongly jailed for murder in 1967 and spent the best part of the next two decades in jail trying to clear his name.
On a pure dramatic film basis this is perhaps one of the best ever portrayals of a tortured soul I have ever seen. Denzel Washington is simply spellbinding as the tragic Carter and produces one of the finest ever film performances in recent years. Apart from the wonderful solo scenes he also works brilliantly well with Vicellous Reon Shannon, who plays Lesra Martin, the young student who becomes the catalyst for Carter to once again fight for his freedom.
There are so other great supporting roles from the rest of the cast including all three of Liev Schriber, Deborah Kara Unger and John Hannah who play the three guardians of Lesra. And great to see Clancy Brown again, and this time playing a nice prison guard as opposed to his usual roles!
After watching the film it was slightly disappointing to find out however that the director had taken great liberties with the "true" story and although the film does contain a "disclaimer" at the start it was still unsatisfactory to discover that perhaps Rubin Carter wasn't the total innocent soul the film portrays. That said it does explain some of the more disjointed scenes in the film but doesn't excuse them. Both the scene when Carter as a young boy stabs the white man and the scene when he returns from the Army to be immediately arrested by the waiting Detective Della Pesca are head scratching to say the least and stick out like sore thumbs. When you discover that Carter stabbed the man in a robbery and that Della Pesca was a completely fictional character you do feel slightly cheated.
As I say fantastic performance by Washington but a star lost for making Carter into an angel when making a film about him being a wrongly convicted devil would have been just as effective.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Setting out for the one last catch that will make up for a lacklustre fishing season, Captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney) pushes his boat the Andrea Gail out to the waters of the Flemish Cap off Nova Scotia for what will be a huge swordfish haul. While his crew is gathering fish, three storm fronts (including a hurricane) collide to create a "perfect storm" of colossal force, and Billy's path back to Gloucester, Massachusetts, takes them right smack into the middle of it. Wolfgang Petersen's adaptation of Sebastian Junger's seafaring best-seller is a faithful if by-the-numbers true-story account of a monster storm that rocked New England in 1991, specifically Tyne's commercial fishing boat and its crew. Junger's tale fashioned a compelling if staid narrative out of seemingly disparate events, but this film adaptation tends to flatten out the story into a conventional if absorbing story of man vs nature, as the crew fights for survival against the awesome waves the storm kicks up. The central part of the film, which cuts between the Andrea Gail's fight to stay afloat and the attempts of the coast guard to rescue a yacht in peril, is suspenseful action of the first degree, aided by some awesome computer-generated waves.
Still, it's a long way to that action, with an extended first act that consists mainly of stoic men, crying women and a fair amount of "don't go out into the sea" dialogue--in other words, a compelling story has been shoehorned into standard summer movie fare. It's too bad, as Peterson assembled an excellent cast--including Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, John C. Reilly and William Fichtner among them--but seems to opt for only a surface exploration of these characters, though Clooney seems to have a touch of Captain Ahab in him. You may still be won over by the movie, but for a more in-depth portrait, go to Junger's book for the missing details. --Mark Englehart
Customer Reviews:
The Perfect Flop.......2008-02-05
This film is absolutely abysmal. They know i giant storm is out there but those fish just have to be caught. The moments of sentiment between the fishermen and their wives are utterly unconvincing and when the storm finally arrives its a complete disappointment. I love extreme weather conditions (in particular large waves) and was hopeful of at least some good effects and late drama in an otherwise hopeless film but even the perfect storm itself was a disappointment. The camera flicks from a computer generated wave to a boat where it looks like stage hands are just throwing buckets of water over the cast the back to the CGI rubbish and so on with occasional corny lines and cast member dying to mix it up. The idea for this film is great and it could have been so good but then came the script the acting and the directing. Like the other guy said, "this film does not deserve a star" but unfortunately you have to give it at least 1 so here it is.
WAVE GOODBYE.......2007-10-24
A fairly basic storyline but great special effects during the storm scenes.
A fishing trawler is caught in the most terrifying storm and her crew, led by George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, battle to stay alive and afloat. Unlikely ending.
Great film unless you're booked on a cruise.
New England Fishermen.......2007-10-05
I feel like I am in the minority here...but I like the movie. And I have heard the People of the town thought the movie company did justice as well. How do you tell a story of a lost fishing boat where all hands were lost. We do not know what actually happened on board, and which of the subplots and events that were added in to brighten up what was an otherwise sad story. The Andrea Gail sets out for a late-season fishing voyage right before a number of meteorological events trigger one of the largest storms in history on the Eastern Seaboard. We get to see many events that occurred including the perils of a yacht, a Coast Guard helicopter crew, and the fishermen on the Andrea Gail.
I feel they captured the town and fishermen. The time at the beginning of the movie is required so that you can see why the men were willing to take risk going out so late in the season to fish again. I enjoyed the little look into New England fishery.
The boat, the men and the action on the high seas are great to watch. The storm effects (CGI I'm sure) were also very cool. Both George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg do a fine job as the captain and crewman, respectively, of the doomed Andrea Gail. I will keep my DVD and watch it again....
True Story let down by Hollywood in places.......2007-07-18
I'm inclined to agree with those that get fed up with people being critical of a plot that based on a true story. We all know Hollywood can and does change things it can't be bothered to convey but still its not the films fault that these are the events of this story. The Andrea Gail and its captain George Clooney (who is superb) are desperate to get the catch they need. Clooney refuses advice to return home and becomes caught out by Mother Nature who whips up a monsterous storm of horrific proportions that eventually causes deadly problems for the boat and its crew. I dread to think how hideous those sea storms really are as these CGI waves are a brilliant testamant to that but can never get close to the true power and horror the sea can achieve. A very good film worthy of its place in a collection.
Read the book.......2007-06-05
This is a solid film, which does it's best to convey Jungers book in 2 hours. Of course its had the Hollywood treatment- what 'true story' hasn't?
Its worth remembering that it is a true story- those reveiwers who complain about the 'plot'... not much you can do to alter actual events, is there? I especially liked the reveiw which described the pilots descision to ditch as 'ridiculous'- a descision which saved the lives of all on board.
Also worth remembering, is that this as not not meant to be a docomentary- once the radio antennae was ripped from the Andrea Gail, of course no one can know what went on, but the film did a good job of creating a plausible, if overly dramatic finale, which fitted in with what is known about what really happened.
I would recomend the book to anyone who is inerested, as inevitably it provides a fuller and truer account.
Also recomended is the book 'That Others May Live' by Jack Brehm, who was involved in the coodination of the rescue effort.
Amazon.co.uk Review
In his direction of The Hurricane, veteran filmmaker Norman Jewison understands that slavish loyalty to factual detail is no guarantee of compelling screen biography. In telling the story of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter--who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1967 and spent nearly two decades in jail--Jewison and his screenwriters compress time, combine characters, and rearrange events with a nonchalance that would be galling if they didn't remain honest to the core truth of Carter's ordeal. Because of that emotional integrity--and because Denzel Washington brings total conviction to his title role--The Hurricane rises above the confines of biographical fidelity to embrace higher values of courage, compassion, and ultimate justice.
Jewison is woefully heavy-handed in his treatment of the fictionalised, absurdly villainous detective (Dan Hedaya) who zealously plots to keep Carter in jail, and anyone familiar with Carter's story may object to the film's simplified account. But what matters here is the shining star of hope that is Lesra (Vicellous Reon Shannon), the Brooklyn teenager who rejuvenates Carter's legal battle in the early 1980s. This surrogate father-son relationship is what revives Carter's hope for family and future, and makes The Hurricane so engrossing and emotionally effective. Lesra's real-life Canadian mentors are compressed from nine characters to three, but their efforts are superbly dramatised, and Jewison hits the small but important grace notes that make a good film even better. By its final scenes, The Hurricane conveys the rich, rewarding satisfaction of surviving a difficult but valuable journey of mind, body, and soul.--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews:
Hurricane.......2007-12-16
This film will change your life. If you ever feel low and that life has dealt you some cruel blows, you have to watch this. Nothing you have been through can compare to this and who can have the strength to deal that all Hurricane had on his plate? An innocent man with a shining future in boxing, he was to spend most of his life in jail for a crime he did not commit, all because of the intense hatred of one man. And if you ever feel that you are too insignificant to make a difference, see how one young boy changed what no one else could, with his love, his fire and his determination. You will cry, you will cheer, and you will be glad you have the life you do.
Justice could really be for all !.......2006-08-08
This film is a true story. It is important for you to know that because some of the facts and reactions seem excessive, and yet... It all starts with a bunch of rowdy black kids who run across an older white man, a local personality who starts playing with these boys of ten or eleven and these boys decide to fight against it, probably without knowing what they were fighting against, except that it was not correct to let an older white man touch you if you were a little black boy. Local police and justice officials will go along a road that leads the same boy who is arrested for « molesting » the older man to a triple death sentence for a triple murder that he never committed and that will never be investigated properly. The film is absolutely outstanding because it sets the emphasis on this black man, an ex-world champion in boxing, transcending this fate and getting so high in his meditation that he is truly free in prison and truly divine in his mind. This Hurricane thus set as an example and model to anyone whose freedom is endangered, we can move to the 15 year old black boy from Brooklyn who buys and reads Rubin Carter's book in a booksale for 25 cents. His own life is a series of accidental cicumstances that lead him from deprevation among alcoholics to some achievement in a « host family » in Canada. This black boy, Lesra, identifies with Rubin and gets involved in his case. His Canadian guardians get along with this involvement and they will eventually bring the truth out and convince a federal court that the man is innocent and has to be released from prison immediately. What is important here is how these people react and organize their search and how it succeeds thanks to some nearly immaterial circumstances that go their way and not the simple automatic and habitual way. It is such cases that justify people in thinking there is hope in our societies where the poor cannot have any justice at all because they cannot afford good lawyers from the very start, and later on it is too late : the initial damage can rarely be redeemed, and yet some cases are there to prove it could, even if it does not most of the time. This is one of the films that should be studied in details in all high schools all over the world.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne
Unbelievable.......2006-02-08
A trully amazing film - If there were an option for 10 stars it would get it.
Its a MUST WATCH regardless of your tastes.
Excellent but not all that true.......2005-06-29
Title says it all really, meant to based on a true story but a lot of facts have bee left out, Still an excellent film but loses its appeal once you find out the true story. Search internet for more details.....
The Hurricane.......2005-06-15
The Hurricane is the bio-documentary / dramatised life story of Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter, a black Afro-American boxer who was wrongly jailed for murder in 1967 and spent the best part of the next two decades in jail trying to clear his name.
On a pure dramatic film basis this is perhaps one of the best ever portrayals of a tortured soul I have ever seen. Denzel Washington is simply spellbinding as the tragic Carter and produces one of the finest ever film performances in recent years. Apart from the wonderful solo scenes he also works brilliantly well with Vicellous Reon Shannon, who plays Lesra Martin, the young student who becomes the catalyst for Carter to once again fight for his freedom.
There are so other great supporting roles from the rest of the cast including all three of Liev Schriber, Deborah Kara Unger and John Hannah who play the three guardians of Lesra. And great to see Clancy Brown again, and this time playing a nice prison guard as opposed to his usual roles!
After watching the film it was slightly disappointing to find out however that the director had taken great liberties with the "true" story and although the film does contain a "disclaimer" at the start it was still unsatisfactory to discover that perhaps Rubin Carter wasn't the total innocent soul the film portrays. That said it does explain some of the more disjointed scenes in the film but doesn't excuse them. Both the scene when Carter as a young boy stabs the white man and the scene when he returns from the Army to be immediately arrested by the waiting Detective Della Pesca are head scratching to say the least and stick out like sore thumbs. When you discover that Carter stabbed the man in a robbery and that Della Pesca was a completely fictional character you do feel slightly cheated.
As I say fantastic performance by Washington but a star lost for making Carter into an angel when making a film about him being a wrongly convicted devil would have been just as effective.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Setting out for the one last catch that will make up for a lacklustre fishing season, Captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney) pushes his boat the Andrea Gail out to the waters of the Flemish Cap off Nova Scotia for what will be a huge swordfish haul. While his crew is gathering fish, three storm fronts (including a hurricane) collide to create a "perfect storm" of colossal force, and Billy's path back to Gloucester, Massachusetts, takes them right smack into the middle of it. Wolfgang Petersen's adaptation of Sebastian Junger's seafaring best-seller is a faithful if by-the-numbers true-story account of a monster storm that rocked New England in 1991, specifically Tyne's commercial fishing boat and its crew. Junger's tale fashioned a compelling if staid narrative out of seemingly disparate events, but this film adaptation tends to flatten out the story into a conventional if absorbing story of man vs nature, as the crew fights for survival against the awesome waves the storm kicks up. The central part of the film, which cuts between the Andrea Gail's fight to stay afloat and the attempts of the coast guard to rescue a yacht in peril, is suspenseful action of the first degree, aided by some awesome computer-generated waves.
Still, it's a long way to that action, with an extended first act that consists mainly of stoic men, crying women and a fair amount of "don't go out into the sea" dialogue--in other words, a compelling story has been shoehorned into standard summer movie fare. It's too bad, as Peterson assembled an excellent cast--including Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, John C. Reilly and William Fichtner among them--but seems to opt for only a surface exploration of these characters, though Clooney seems to have a touch of Captain Ahab in him. You may still be won over by the movie, but for a more in-depth portrait, go to Junger's book for the missing details. --Mark Englehart
Customer Reviews:
The Perfect Flop.......2008-02-05
This film is absolutely abysmal. They know i giant storm is out there but those fish just have to be caught. The moments of sentiment between the fishermen and their wives are utterly unconvincing and when the storm finally arrives its a complete disappointment. I love extreme weather conditions (in particular large waves) and was hopeful of at least some good effects and late drama in an otherwise hopeless film but even the perfect storm itself was a disappointment. The camera flicks from a computer generated wave to a boat where it looks like stage hands are just throwing buckets of water over the cast the back to the CGI rubbish and so on with occasional corny lines and cast member dying to mix it up. The idea for this film is great and it could have been so good but then came the script the acting and the directing. Like the other guy said, "this film does not deserve a star" but unfortunately you have to give it at least 1 so here it is.
WAVE GOODBYE.......2007-10-24
A fairly basic storyline but great special effects during the storm scenes.
A fishing trawler is caught in the most terrifying storm and her crew, led by George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, battle to stay alive and afloat. Unlikely ending.
Great film unless you're booked on a cruise.
New England Fishermen.......2007-10-05
I feel like I am in the minority here...but I like the movie. And I have heard the People of the town thought the movie company did justice as well. How do you tell a story of a lost fishing boat where all hands were lost. We do not know what actually happened on board, and which of the subplots and events that were added in to brighten up what was an otherwise sad story. The Andrea Gail sets out for a late-season fishing voyage right before a number of meteorological events trigger one of the largest storms in history on the Eastern Seaboard. We get to see many events that occurred including the perils of a yacht, a Coast Guard helicopter crew, and the fishermen on the Andrea Gail.
I feel they captured the town and fishermen. The time at the beginning of the movie is required so that you can see why the men were willing to take risk going out so late in the season to fish again. I enjoyed the little look into New England fishery.
The boat, the men and the action on the high seas are great to watch. The storm effects (CGI I'm sure) were also very cool. Both George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg do a fine job as the captain and crewman, respectively, of the doomed Andrea Gail. I will keep my DVD and watch it again....
True Story let down by Hollywood in places.......2007-07-18
I'm inclined to agree with those that get fed up with people being critical of a plot that based on a true story. We all know Hollywood can and does change things it can't be bothered to convey but still its not the films fault that these are the events of this story. The Andrea Gail and its captain George Clooney (who is superb) are desperate to get the catch they need. Clooney refuses advice to return home and becomes caught out by Mother Nature who whips up a monsterous storm of horrific proportions that eventually causes deadly problems for the boat and its crew. I dread to think how hideous those sea storms really are as these CGI waves are a brilliant testamant to that but can never get close to the true power and horror the sea can achieve. A very good film worthy of its place in a collection.
Read the book.......2007-06-05
This is a solid film, which does it's best to convey Jungers book in 2 hours. Of course its had the Hollywood treatment- what 'true story' hasn't?
Its worth remembering that it is a true story- those reveiwers who complain about the 'plot'... not much you can do to alter actual events, is there? I especially liked the reveiw which described the pilots descision to ditch as 'ridiculous'- a descision which saved the lives of all on board.
Also worth remembering, is that this as not not meant to be a docomentary- once the radio antennae was ripped from the Andrea Gail, of course no one can know what went on, but the film did a good job of creating a plausible, if overly dramatic finale, which fitted in with what is known about what really happened.
I would recomend the book to anyone who is inerested, as inevitably it provides a fuller and truer account.
Also recomended is the book 'That Others May Live' by Jack Brehm, who was involved in the coodination of the rescue effort.
Amazon.co.uk Review
In his direction of The Hurricane, veteran filmmaker Norman Jewison understands that slavish loyalty to factual detail is no guarantee of compelling screen biography. In telling the story of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter--who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1967 and spent nearly two decades in jail--Jewison and his screenwriters compress time, combine characters, and rearrange events with a nonchalance that would be galling if they didn't remain honest to the core truth of Carter's ordeal. Because of that emotional integrity--and because Denzel Washington brings total conviction to his title role--The Hurricane rises above the confines of biographical fidelity to embrace higher values of courage, compassion, and ultimate justice.
Jewison is woefully heavy-handed in his treatment of the fictionalised, absurdly villainous detective (Dan Hedaya) who zealously plots to keep Carter in jail, and anyone familiar with Carter's story may object to the film's simplified account. But what matters here is the shining star of hope that is Lesra (Vicellous Reon Shannon), the Brooklyn teenager who rejuvenates Carter's legal battle in the early 1980s. This surrogate father-son relationship is what revives Carter's hope for family and future, and makes The Hurricane so engrossing and emotionally effective. Lesra's real-life Canadian mentors are compressed from nine characters to three, but their efforts are superbly dramatised, and Jewison hits the small but important grace notes that make a good film even better. By its final scenes, The Hurricane conveys the rich, rewarding satisfaction of surviving a difficult but valuable journey of mind, body, and soul.--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews:
Hurricane.......2007-12-16
This film will change your life. If you ever feel low and that life has dealt you some cruel blows, you have to watch this. Nothing you have been through can compare to this and who can have the strength to deal that all Hurricane had on his plate? An innocent man with a shining future in boxing, he was to spend most of his life in jail for a crime he did not commit, all because of the intense hatred of one man. And if you ever feel that you are too insignificant to make a difference, see how one young boy changed what no one else could, with his love, his fire and his determination. You will cry, you will cheer, and you will be glad you have the life you do.
Justice could really be for all !.......2006-08-08
This film is a true story. It is important for you to know that because some of the facts and reactions seem excessive, and yet... It all starts with a bunch of rowdy black kids who run across an older white man, a local personality who starts playing with these boys of ten or eleven and these boys decide to fight against it, probably without knowing what they were fighting against, except that it was not correct to let an older white man touch you if you were a little black boy. Local police and justice officials will go along a road that leads the same boy who is arrested for « molesting » the older man to a triple death sentence for a triple murder that he never committed and that will never be investigated properly. The film is absolutely outstanding because it sets the emphasis on this black man, an ex-world champion in boxing, transcending this fate and getting so high in his meditation that he is truly free in prison and truly divine in his mind. This Hurricane thus set as an example and model to anyone whose freedom is endangered, we can move to the 15 year old black boy from Brooklyn who buys and reads Rubin Carter's book in a booksale for 25 cents. His own life is a series of accidental cicumstances that lead him from deprevation among alcoholics to some achievement in a « host family » in Canada. This black boy, Lesra, identifies with Rubin and gets involved in his case. His Canadian guardians get along with this involvement and they will eventually bring the truth out and convince a federal court that the man is innocent and has to be released from prison immediately. What is important here is how these people react and organize their search and how it succeeds thanks to some nearly immaterial circumstances that go their way and not the simple automatic and habitual way. It is such cases that justify people in thinking there is hope in our societies where the poor cannot have any justice at all because they cannot afford good lawyers from the very start, and later on it is too late : the initial damage can rarely be redeemed, and yet some cases are there to prove it could, even if it does not most of the time. This is one of the films that should be studied in details in all high schools all over the world.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne
Unbelievable.......2006-02-08
A trully amazing film - If there were an option for 10 stars it would get it.
Its a MUST WATCH regardless of your tastes.
Excellent but not all that true.......2005-06-29
Title says it all really, meant to based on a true story but a lot of facts have bee left out, Still an excellent film but loses its appeal once you find out the true story. Search internet for more details.....
The Hurricane.......2005-06-15
The Hurricane is the bio-documentary / dramatised life story of Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter, a black Afro-American boxer who was wrongly jailed for murder in 1967 and spent the best part of the next two decades in jail trying to clear his name.
On a pure dramatic film basis this is perhaps one of the best ever portrayals of a tortured soul I have ever seen. Denzel Washington is simply spellbinding as the tragic Carter and produces one of the finest ever film performances in recent years. Apart from the wonderful solo scenes he also works brilliantly well with Vicellous Reon Shannon, who plays Lesra Martin, the young student who becomes the catalyst for Carter to once again fight for his freedom.
There are so other great supporting roles from the rest of the cast including all three of Liev Schriber, Deborah Kara Unger and John Hannah who play the three guardians of Lesra. And great to see Clancy Brown again, and this time playing a nice prison guard as opposed to his usual roles!
After watching the film it was slightly disappointing to find out however that the director had taken great liberties with the "true" story and although the film does contain a "disclaimer" at the start it was still unsatisfactory to discover that perhaps Rubin Carter wasn't the total innocent soul the film portrays. That said it does explain some of the more disjointed scenes in the film but doesn't excuse them. Both the scene when Carter as a young boy stabs the white man and the scene when he returns from the Army to be immediately arrested by the waiting Detective Della Pesca are head scratching to say the least and stick out like sore thumbs. When you discover that Carter stabbed the man in a robbery and that Della Pesca was a completely fictional character you do feel slightly cheated.
As I say fantastic performance by Washington but a star lost for making Carter into an angel when making a film about him being a wrongly convicted devil would have been just as effective.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Setting out for the one last catch that will make up for a lacklustre fishing season, Captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney) pushes his boat the Andrea Gail out to the waters of the Flemish Cap off Nova Scotia for what will be a huge swordfish haul. While his crew is gathering fish, three storm fronts (including a hurricane) collide to create a "perfect storm" of colossal force, and Billy's path back to Gloucester, Massachusetts, takes them right smack into the middle of it. Wolfgang Petersen's adaptation of Sebastian Junger's seafaring best-seller is a faithful if by-the-numbers true-story account of a monster storm that rocked New England in 1991, specifically Tyne's commercial fishing boat and its crew. Junger's tale fashioned a compelling if staid narrative out of seemingly disparate events, but this film adaptation tends to flatten out the story into a conventional if absorbing story of man vs nature, as the crew fights for survival against the awesome waves the storm kicks up. The central part of the film, which cuts between the Andrea Gail's fight to stay afloat and the attempts of the coast guard to rescue a yacht in peril, is suspenseful action of the first degree, aided by some awesome computer-generated waves.
Still, it's a long way to that action, with an extended first act that consists mainly of stoic men, crying women and a fair amount of "don't go out into the sea" dialogue--in other words, a compelling story has been shoehorned into standard summer movie fare. It's too bad, as Peterson assembled an excellent cast--including Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, John C. Reilly and William Fichtner among them--but seems to opt for only a surface exploration of these characters, though Clooney seems to have a touch of Captain Ahab in him. You may still be won over by the movie, but for a more in-depth portrait, go to Junger's book for the missing details. --Mark Englehart
Customer Reviews:
The Perfect Flop.......2008-02-05
This film is absolutely abysmal. They know i giant storm is out there but those fish just have to be caught. The moments of sentiment between the fishermen and their wives are utterly unconvincing and when the storm finally arrives its a complete disappointment. I love extreme weather conditions (in particular large waves) and was hopeful of at least some good effects and late drama in an otherwise hopeless film but even the perfect storm itself was a disappointment. The camera flicks from a computer generated wave to a boat where it looks like stage hands are just throwing buckets of water over the cast the back to the CGI rubbish and so on with occasional corny lines and cast member dying to mix it up. The idea for this film is great and it could have been so good but then came the script the acting and the directing. Like the other guy said, "this film does not deserve a star" but unfortunately you have to give it at least 1 so here it is.
WAVE GOODBYE.......2007-10-24
A fairly basic storyline but great special effects during the storm scenes.
A fishing trawler is caught in the most terrifying storm and her crew, led by George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, battle to stay alive and afloat. Unlikely ending.
Great film unless you're booked on a cruise.
New England Fishermen.......2007-10-05
I feel like I am in the minority here...but I like the movie. And I have heard the People of the town thought the movie company did justice as well. How do you tell a story of a lost fishing boat where all hands were lost. We do not know what actually happened on board, and which of the subplots and events that were added in to brighten up what was an otherwise sad story. The Andrea Gail sets out for a late-season fishing voyage right before a number of meteorological events trigger one of the largest storms in history on the Eastern Seaboard. We get to see many events that occurred including the perils of a yacht, a Coast Guard helicopter crew, and the fishermen on the Andrea Gail.
I feel they captured the town and fishermen. The time at the beginning of the movie is required so that you can see why the men were willing to take risk going out so late in the season to fish again. I enjoyed the little look into New England fishery.
The boat, the men and the action on the high seas are great to watch. The storm effects (CGI I'm sure) were also very cool. Both George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg do a fine job as the captain and crewman, respectively, of the doomed Andrea Gail. I will keep my DVD and watch it again....
True Story let down by Hollywood in places.......2007-07-18
I'm inclined to agree with those that get fed up with people being critical of a plot that based on a true story. We all know Hollywood can and does change things it can't be bothered to convey but still its not the films fault that these are the events of this story. The Andrea Gail and its captain George Clooney (who is superb) are desperate to get the catch they need. Clooney refuses advice to return home and becomes caught out by Mother Nature who whips up a monsterous storm of horrific proportions that eventually causes deadly problems for the boat and its crew. I dread to think how hideous those sea storms really are as these CGI waves are a brilliant testamant to that but can never get close to the true power and horror the sea can achieve. A very good film worthy of its place in a collection.
Read the book.......2007-06-05
This is a solid film, which does it's best to convey Jungers book in 2 hours. Of course its had the Hollywood treatment- what 'true story' hasn't?
Its worth remembering that it is a true story- those reveiwers who complain about the 'plot'... not much you can do to alter actual events, is there? I especially liked the reveiw which described the pilots descision to ditch as 'ridiculous'- a descision which saved the lives of all on board.
Also worth remembering, is that this as not not meant to be a docomentary- once the radio antennae was ripped from the Andrea Gail, of course no one can know what went on, but the film did a good job of creating a plausible, if overly dramatic finale, which fitted in with what is known about what really happened.
I would recomend the book to anyone who is inerested, as inevitably it provides a fuller and truer account.
Also recomended is the book 'That Others May Live' by Jack Brehm, who was involved in the coodination of the rescue effort.
UK DVD:
- The Ice Storm [1998]
- The Louis Malle Collection - Vol. 1
- The Man Who Cried [2000]
- The Piano (Special Edition)
- The Singing Detective [1986]
- The X Files Movie [1998]
- Tideland [2005]
- Traffic [2001]
- Tsotsi [2006]
- Under The Greenwood Tree
UK DVD List
UK DVD
![The Hurricane [2000]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21EEGDBKGVL.jpg)
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Hurricane: The Life of Rubin Carter, Fighter
Antwone Fisher
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