So, I went into this film expecting great things because I - and i'm sure many other film goers - love this sort of movie: the typical "1 person against the world survival movie" which has worked so well with films like Cast Away, Gravity and 127 Hours. The unfortunate truth is however, that this film is boring!! I can appreciate them for trying their hand at that style of film, but not once did I connect with the main character or his situation because I wasn't really sure what his "situation" was. The film seems to concern itself more with the main character pottering around aimlessly on his boat that it misses the point of emphasising his suffering to us, which is what made us as an audience connect with all those survival films, the fact that the hero carries on through almost fatal injury. I don't think that the hero really gets injured that badly, although I probably wasn't paying attention having nearly fallen asleep during his scenes on the yacht. However, to the filmmaker's credit, it is a very ambitious idea to make a film with only one character and little to no dialogue, which is something that those survival films never did, but I think the idea could have been executed better. Another problem is that due to a lack of dialogue, Robert Redford is completely bland in this movie, and I honestly don't think that he's the kind of actor that can hold interest on the screen without dialogue. But overall, I think that the biggest problem is that the film has been over-hyped too much. The film is certainly not Oscar worthy and is best viewed with mediocre expectations. I'm not saying it's an atrocious film, but you won't remember it long after initial viewing.
Review of All Is Lost
