Watching a man try to survive a mid-sea disaster is compelling, but watching a man try to survive a mid-sea disaster in an effort to live for something would have been exponentially more compelling.
“All Is Lost” features Robert Redford as an unnamed man indulging in some alone time on his yacht in the middle of the Indian Ocean. While asleep, his boat collides with a stray shipping container, causing the vessel to take on water. As time passes and his situation worsens, the man is faced with a barrage of decisions that will determine whether he’ll stay afloat and alive.
Lost at sea, lost in space, lost in the mountains, lost wherever movies come with an inherent connectivity. As long as the piece is mildly successful, it’s a thrill to watch a character try to figure out how to defy the odds and survive, and then to wonder how you’d fare in such a situation. While “All Is Lost” does bear that quality, it also suffers a major disconnect due to insufficient information.
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A mediocre first trailer likely won’t keep anyone from catching David O. Russell’s American Hustle, but simply showing off Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence and loads of pretty period costumes isn’t going to get you into the Best Stuff.