Deadliest Sea (2009) starring Sebastian Pigott, Greg Bryk, Joanne Boland, Ryan Blakely, Kris Holden-Ried, Eugene Clark, Ron White, Peter Outerbridge directed by T.J. Scott Movie Review

Deadliest Sea (2009)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Greg Bryk and Peter Outerbridge in Deadliest Sea (2009)

Lost at Sea

In 2005 a TV series started called the "Deadliest Catch" it was all about the real adventures and the life on the waves of Alaskan crab fishermen. Now whilst "Deadliest Sea" is inspired by the book "Working on the Edge" and is based on a true story it has the feel of something put together to attract those who enjoyed the "Deadliest Catch". By that I mean we get served up drama from a deck hand making life hard for a green horn, equipment problems and of course a huge storm which brings with it danger but in the end that is all it serves up and feels like it is lacking a purpose.

Arriving in Kodiak, Alaska Tommy (Sebastian Pigott) is looking for adventure as a green horn on a fishing boat and it is how he comes to meet Captain Jack (Peter Outerbridge) and deck boss Stubbs (Greg Bryk) who is putting a crew together to go out as Jack needs a change of luck and some money. But their boat is not see worthy and has no permit which makes things even more dangerous when they find themselves in the mother of all storms with limited equipment and what they have is faulty.

Sebastian Pigott in Deadliest Sea (2009)

The biggest problem with "Deadliest Sea" is that whilst it tells us that it is based on a true story it feels too cliche and generic. It makes it almost feel pointless because what we get is just a series of routine elements from Stubbs making life hard for everyone, some boisterous behaviour between men, a touch of sea faring superstition and then the drama of when the storm hits and the boat ends up out of control. In many ways it feels like someone has watched "Deadliest Catch" and tried to make a movie out of all the best bits, the wind ups, the drama and the antagonism between the crew.

But that is not the only problem that the "Deadliest Sea" has and with it being a TV movie we have issues over special effects. I'm sorry but not only does it often look fake but the amount of water we see hit the boat from various heights and wash down below into only some parts of the boat is unbelievable. It doesn't look right at all and in the end when we get the drama of big waves hitting the boat it just becomes chaos where you end up feeling for the actors and actress, yes we have a woman aboard, who get hit with a lot of water for various shots.

Talking of the actors well they have a bunch of generic characters to play and so don't really leave any lasting impression. In the end Greg Bryk as Stubbs is the most memorable which I don't know is more down to his character being the loudest and so most memorable or for the fact that I had seen Bryk before.

What this all boils down to is that the "Deadliest Sea" ends up feeling like a pointless movie which whilst being based on a true story seems more about capitalizing on the popularity of the "Deadliest Catch". It's not good and whilst I have watched worse I certainly wouldn't want to watch it again.


LATEST REVIEWS