Adrift is a visually stunning movie, where I was drawn into the story from the moment it started and engrossed in the story and lives of the characters. I was uncertain about it when I first went into the theatre as I associate Shailene Woodley, who plays main character Tami Oldham, with YA characters and to be honest she isn't one of my favorite actresses right now. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see this movie but I tend to really enjoy survival of the elements movies and the trailers won me over. I am glad to say that I was drawn in by the storytelling, visual, and acting, and very much enjoyed the whole movie.
Adrift is loosely based on the survival story of Tami Oldham, played by Shialene Woodley, and Richard Sharp, played by Sam Clafin. It is told in two parts, the main story of being adrift and surviving after the boat, these two are sailing, gets damaged in a hurricane and lost at sea, as well as the story of how Tami and Richard met and the beginning of their relationship. Both parts are told chronologically but are jumped back and forth between. To me it feels like the survival story is the main plot with the flashbacks of the beginning of their relationship.
The production team of Adrift did an absolutely fantastic job of telling this story and whoever was in charge of deciding the pace, the jumps between the two storylines, and how everything came together was spot on. I was caught up from the first moment of Tami waking up in the aftermath of the storm to the conclusion of if she is able to pull it together and survive. There were not any moments when I drifted away from the story, although there were a few things that were distracting.
I was extremely impressed with the cinematography and visuals of Adrift. A lot of the shots are artistic as well as though out and meaningful. This was done in a way that was not pretentious or gave it a feeling of being over produced. It just worked and added to the who experience of seeing this movie. I have gotten used to and disappointed in lots of movies that try to hard to seem like they are doing something to make a great movie and lose the naturalness needed to pull it off. Adrift was able to capture how it should be done and didn't feel forced or take away from the emotional journey of watching this story.
As I mentioned above, Shailene Woodley is not one of my favorite actresses and I genuinely don't find myself seeing her as the character. As I think about it, I don't think she is very good at emoting on screen and tends to not connect with those around her, but in this I didn't find her to be that bad. Maybe it is because a lot of it is just focused on her as the primary character and the interactions between her and Sam Clafin are good enough.
The main things that I didn't like about this movie are the what's the point PG-13 nudity (which had me thinking "wait is this a rated R Movie, but it cant be" during a moment that should have been more emotionally poignant. I mean later on she is doing something similar but is clothed), and at the beginning where Shailene Woodleys nipples where very prominent through her shirt. Neither of these choices were needed and I just found them distracting in an otherwise amazing film, where I could tell a lot of effort and thought was out into everything and how it came together. The other distracting moment was the obvious CGI towards the end, but if this was the only issue I would have easily forgiven the movie as this wasn't an action movie but a well done drama.
Overall, I really enjoyed Adrift and think it could easily be one of the movies I watch regularly. I was drawn into the story and emotionally cared about what they were going through (and if you know me you will know that the ending could have really set me against the whole movie- comment below if you know why). However it wasn't too much where I ended up being too emotional exhausted by what happened.
I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good drama or survival story. There were moments of suspense that I got dragged into, even thought it was during flash back scenes and I knew what eventually would happen. This in and of itself shows what a great job this movie is at storytelling. It was just a fantastic movie to watch.
My Rating: 3
