FILM REVIEW: ADRIFT (12A)

This rather tepid romance-drama is (kinda) saved from a nice twist in the finale – otherwise it would drift from your memory rather quickly.

The Divergent Series’ starlet Shailene Woodley – who also produces – puts in plenty of graft to try and make this based-on-true-events movie work, but it simply meanders in a harmless fashion without ever really coming to life.

Adrift chronicles a chance encounter between ‘free spirit’ Tami (Woodley), who meets nomadic sailor Richard (The Hunger Games series) in Tahiti after escaping the monotony of her San Diego homelife.

It then flits into the past highlighting their burgeoning relationship, to the present – with them struggling to survive after the couple’s boat is seriously damaged after a catastrophic hurricane.

Tami must then use her rookie sailing prowess to try and drift the couple to mainland – with Richard seriously injured with a broken leg and busted ribs – as they’re stranded in the middle of the ocean.

And because they’re not on any shipping routes with minimal hope of rescue, if they overshoot their potential destination of Hawaii it’s just the vastness of the Pacific Ocean after that, which means they’ll run out of food and water . . . and ultimately the chance of making it out the situation alive.

But while there’s chemistry between the two main protagonists, the script is never compelling enough to mesh the constant looping story with their current survival woes – and despite the best efforts of everyone it all ends up a bit, well, meh.

And that comes despite the director’s (Everest’s Baltastur Kormakur) past history for disaster and water-based productions – but he never quite gets the excitement levels ramped up to make it anymore enjoyable than the Open Water movies.

Which leaves Adrift – while not exactly drowning – paddling desperately for survival instead of finding its legs and swimming gracefully through the ocean.

CAST: SHAILENE WOODLEY, SAM CLAFLIN, GRACE PALMER, JEFFREY THOMAS & ELIZABETH HAWTHORNE

RUNNING TIME: 1 HR 36 MINS

DIRECTOR: BALTASAR KORMAKUR

Rating: 2.5/5

Gavin Miller

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