Directed by:
Phillip NoyceScreenplay:
Terry HayesCinematography:
Dean SemlerComposer:
Graeme RevellPlots(1)
Returning from duty with the Australian navy, John Ingram (Sam Neill) is surprised to be met by two policemen, who inform him of a car accident that has left his son dead and his wife, Rae (Nicole Kidman), injured. The grieving couple seeks refuge on their yacht, the Saracen. Out on the boat, the skies are sunny, the sea calm--but on the horizon is another vessel, the Orpheus. As John and Rae approach the ship, they find a lone survivor, Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane), who tells them that the other crew members have died of food poisoning. Leaving Rae behind with the sleeping Hughie, the suspicious John boards the Orpheus--only to be confronted with a horrifying situation. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (4)
When I was a wee lad, I had a pretty ugly nightmare because of this film.
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A classic. Great value for money, with a charismatic Sam Neill, a fierce Billy Zane and a gorgeous Nicole Kidman, for whom this film marked a phenomenal start to a stellar career.
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No matter where he plays, I've always disliked Billy Zane and probably always will. I didn't mind hum here, though, given his character. Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman are excellent.
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Quite rightly, Dead Calm has kicked the vast majority of those involved, from the director to the writer to the actors, into the Hollywood big leagues. In fact, the film offers far more than the forlorn plot summary would suggest. Namely in three points: 1) Billy Zane plays not the usual trendy cool movie psycho, but a real narcissistic psychopath, whose background (meaning backstory hehe hoho) remains for the most part a mystery to us. He comes across as uncomfortably familiar, like a coked-up marketer guy who talks for four hours about how he's going to write a book that will change the world one day and can't be gotten rid of. 2) The protagonists are intelligent and capable. They don't panic and are constantly adapting to situations as they arise, both the guy and the girl, where no one is waiting to rescue anyone, but each actively building a plan to get rid of the unwanted passenger themselves. 3) It wasn't just the presence of Sam Neil that got the Orpheus reminding me of Event Horizon in some ways. The crumpled, dark hold with a pile of corpses playing in the background, with an unpleasant amateur video suggesting the events leading up to the crew's deaths, is a subtle but just perfectly effective hint that there's some kind of crack in the wall concealing absolute madness behind the story we're watching. And the film doesn't allow us to touch it, only feel it.
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