All is Lost features Robert Redford in a virtual one man show in a tale of survival written and directed by J.C. Chandor. This is the type of movie that could put an exclamation mark on the actor's already legendary career while also proving that it is far from being over.
The movie begins with Redford's character (no name given in the movie or the credits) waking up on his yacht to find it has been struck by a wayward shipping container in the middle of the Indian ocean. After patching up the damaged ship and sending the container off in another direction, he looks to find help without the aid of the communication equipment that was all damaged in the collision.
With repairs completed, the very experienced sailor begins to make progress towards finding another boat or even a land mass although the weather has now decided it will not be cooperating with his efforts. A storm rolls in and provides enough wind and crashing waves to further damage the boat making his efforts to be rescued turn more to a simple matter of survival.
Before having a chance to watch this movie, I had heard so much about the amazing story and how wonderful Redford is in the lead, and only, role. Having been nominated for multiple awards at various film festivals as well as the Independent Spirit Awards, this was sure to be a very powerful experience. After watching the movie, I have to say I was pretty disappointed in the end result and thought that maybe I had watched a different version of a film that has received so much praise.
The story was not engaging to me in any way at all and gave me no reason to root for or even have any interest in the character at all. I had no idea who he was and frankly didn't care about a man that had no real personality. I felt like Redford played the character too even keeled and, with no back story at all, there was no way to identify with who he was as a person. Sure, there were some seriously intense moments of action during the storms, but none of it was enough to overcome how dull and even laughable the rest of the film was. Seriously, two ladies that had sat nearby had to get up and leave because they couldn't stop laughing at how silly they thought the movie was.
I know a lot of people that have enjoyed this movie so maybe this is just one that I could not connect with, but seriously...I just wanted it to end. My streak of never walking out of a movie of course remained intact, but the thought actually did cross my mind. If you choose to see this movie, I honestly hope you have a better experience than I did.
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