Brief thoughts on Adrift.

In 1983, Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp sailed directly into the path of Hurricane Raymond, rendering their sailboat damaged and leaking, at which point Tami took charge in fixing up and steering the boat to landfall. Her story would become an inspiring tale of perseverance, leading up to a film adaptation of her book detailing those harrowing events, and the love she shared with Richard, in director Baltasar Kormakur's Adrift.

One thing I can give this film huge props for is the central performance of Shailene Woodley. Woodley has long been an actress I've appreciated, with many of her film choices seeing her as these sensitive, vulnerable characters caught at the center of tragic circumstances. With that in mind, Adrift is an ideal role for her, with an added depth she's rarely tapped into. You can tell this is a project she felt truly passionate about (she even has her own producer credit), as she carries this entire movie squarely on her shoulders in a near one woman show, in a performance that demands a lot of her range of emotion, and a great deal of physicality given how much of the movie takes place on the ocean. That transformation is just so effortless, and you care deeply for Tami because of Woodley's strength in the role, anchoring the film through its most devastating heartbreaks and setbacks.

And that connection is felt more deeply thanks to the genuinely affecting love story at the center, shared alongside Richard played here by Sam Claflin of Me Before You, who despite being typecast in these love interest roles opposite his female leads, I think is a standout here. I think this is owed largely to the fact that Woodley really brings out the best in him, as the two feel like such strong kindred spirits, both favoring adventurism and travel over settling down, in an attempt to run from their pasts. It's a relationship that creates genuine sparks, as the two share this strong chemistry with their similar desires and goals, and it's because of how well this bond is set up that the survival story that takes up half of the film feels as compelling as it is.

Alas, Adrift still falters in most other areas. Like Baltasar Kormakur's previous true story survival tragedy Everest, Adrift is prone to its dramatic trappings and habit of falling back on tropes, but unlike that film, this one's built up suspense doesn't hold up as well. Adrift is told in two crossing timelines, Tami and Richard's love story leading up to the hurricane, and the aftermath and their quest for survival and rescue. Everest was smart in dedicating its first half to the group of mountain climbers, followed by the storm that left those people scrambling for survival, but Adrift practically starts off dropping us in the middle of the action with no context whatsoever. Despite the harrowing construction and rhythm Kormakur brings to these scenes, and Woodley's powerful performance in these segments, I kept thinking that they were going too big, too early, and the constant distraction of being yanked between segments proved too great for me to ignore. For those unfamiliar with this story walking in, there is a reason they opt for this way, but even that isn't good enough reason for it to be that way. With just some minor tweaking, there's no reason the movie couldn't have taken place in chronological order, and been all the better for it.

But for all its issues, Adrift still features some strong accomplishments both in front of and behind the camera, all brought together in admirable form to immortalize and do justice to the heartbreak and triumph of the figures at its center.


*** / *****