Movies

Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry (Ewan McGregor) are on vacation with their three young kids in Thailand. It's a picture perfect trip at a coastal hotel. Suddenly a tsunami hits and the family is scattered.Naomi Watts gives a harrowing performance. It's a true life story of a family dealing with the 2004 Christmas Indian Ocean tsunami. The action scenes are unbelievable. The scale of it all and the danger it depicts is truly realistic. The performance that Naomi gives is absolutely Oscar worthy. She is truly believable as a mother fighting for her life as she loses track of her family. There are a lot of tear jerking moments here. Some of them pushes a little too far. But it never gets completely fake. Ewan McGregor plays the father who has an incredible scene with a cell phone. Highly recommended.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami is brought to shockingly realistic life in J. A. Bayona's ten minute sequence near the beginning of the harrowing true-life survival tale, "The Impossible." With little to no CGI and using mostly scale models and a giant water tank, Bayona throws the viewers into the wave along with stars Naomi Watts (astonishing) and young Tom Holland (revelatory as Watts' son). Told from the point of view of a family on holiday in Thailand, the story makes for a riveting family-centered emotional drama. The rest of the cast is outstanding as well, and there's a strong humanist approach applied to depicting this wide-spread multi-national disaster.It might pull on the heartstrings a bit "too much" in some sequences, but the manipulation is apt in telling this real-life drama.Overall - an unforgettable, draining but uplifting film experience.Check out full reviews at theschleicherspin.com

This drama looks at the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on a British family vacationing in Thailand. Although based on a true story, this is an unbelievably melodramatic film that feels contrived, with every plot point staged for maximum emotional impact. One of the problems is the singular focus on a tourist family. With all the devastation to the locals, it is hard to sympathize with the plight of an affluent white family. Poorly scripted and directed, it is shamefully manipulative, going for cheap emotions at every turn. Watts and McGregor are decent actors but can't overcome the material they have to work with here. The victims of the tragedy deserve something better than this inept homage.