The Impossible (2012)
In december 26th 2004 one of the worst natural disasters in the known history hit South Asia taking over 230,000 lives and effecting millions of people around the world. This movie focuses on one family in middle of it all, their incredible fight for survival and their search to be reunited. I must say I haven't been moved like this by a movie in a long time, I mean the first half of the film emotionally and even physically shook me in the theater. Maria's and Lucas', played by Naomi Watts and Tom Holland, part of the story was such a strong portray of the power of cinema that I totally forgot I was watching a movie. Mark my words, Naomi Watts will get an Oscar nomination and maybe even win it and I wouldn't be surprised if Tom Holland would receive one as well. Unfortunately the movie loses it's incredible momentum after the first half, once it focuses on the father, played by Ewan McGregor, and the two other boys. That doesn't mean that Ewan McGregor would give out a bad performance, on the contrary, it's probably the best he has ever given. It's just that the story loses it's power and turns into more like a long wait for the audience to get to release their tears of joy. The direction is quite brilliant and the movie looks stunning, especially the tsunami scene was devastating to watch. Juan Antonio Bayona already proved his skills with his first feature The Orphanage (2007) but this movie shows that he can handle a big scale productions as well. Though as his previous film was quite original I would have hoped some of that touch to the second half of this movie as well. Now I quess the second half sounds like crap, but it really isn't, it's just that the first half is so strong and the second half is quite straight forward formulaic drama, still very well made and especially acted. All in all it's well worth watching even though it kind of uses all it's power during the first half, but oh my, what a magnificent first half it is.
75%
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