How realistic do you think the movie 'All is Lost' (2013 - Robert Redford) is compared to actual offshore sailing?

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adventure95004@reddit

I don't think this was about sailing other than it was on a sailboat. I believe it was more about the guy . I think he was a man that had just given up. Probably something medical maybe and didn't care if he died. Maybe didn't want to die but didn't care if he did, that would explain a lot of his actions and lethargy and just general lack of enthusiasm. It definitely wasn't a sailing movie

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CharterJet50@reddit

Hmmm, and here I thought it was about a guy who just wouldn’t give up until all was lost. Did we see the same movie?

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adventure95004@reddit

Lol to me he really doesn't put much effort into saving himself, just the minimum to say he wasn't communicating suicide. I sail and could and would have done so much more to save myself and the boat. I think that was the problem with the movie. Maybe it left a little too much to the imagination.

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CharterJet50@reddit

The guy literally lit his raft on fire to try and signal help.

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adventure95004@reddit

Maybe you have to be a certain age to understand that thought process and feeling but lighting your life raft on fire is one of those things where you're saying if I'm rescued awesome I don't want to die, but you're also ending it because you've now destroyed your only way of surviving. I really don't think he cared either way. Again, I think this is having a certain outlook on life that you get from being a certain generation which he certainly was and I can understand exactly how he felt. But like any movie it is open to interpretation.

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AnotherOpinionHaver@reddit

It's incredibly realistic in that a guy keeps making absolutely boneheaded decisions and faces the consequences for those decisions.

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Professional-Time444@reddit

Sounds like the alien franchise in a sailboat

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pirate_starbridge@reddit

With the exception of the sequel "Aliens", sure. But that's a pretty big exception.

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Professional-Time444@reddit

Agreed. Though as a Prometheus fanboy, my opinion might warrant a couple of facehugger-esque responses here.

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RevLoveJoy@reddit

If one simply comes to realize, as I have, that the Aliens franchise is only the original 1979 film, the 1986 sequel and 2012's Promethus, then the franchise really is exceptional. Sorry Winona.

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Professional-Time444@reddit

Are you single?

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pirate_starbridge@reddit

I mean I'm with you guys on the first two, but throwing Prometheus in there is wild. I almost walked out of the theater, the screenplay, dialog, and execution were so bad!

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RevLoveJoy@reddit

Valid arguments all around. I'm a fan simply because the cinematography is terrific and where it fits in the cannon. Narrative, cast and story are weak.

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BearlyThereMA@reddit

A great big hole in the port side right at the waterline. Lets try a starboard tack. Genius.

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SailingSpark@reddit

So a checkbook sailor.

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Difficult_Limit2718@reddit

As a credit card captain I resemble that

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Hour_Baby_3428@reddit

This. His behaviour is hardly unrealistic

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4runner01@reddit

Totally unrealistic, but fun to watch….

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Icy-Cardiologist2597@reddit

Before I knew much about boats, I saw the scene of him mixing some goop to fix a hole in the boat. I didn’t know what it was but I thought to myself, some day that will make sense. Recently I used epoxy and glass tape for the first time,

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klaagmeaan@reddit

It was the stupidist movie ever. With the amount of dumb decisions he made he deserved to drown in the end, but he was saved in the last second. That pissed me off even more.

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ruidh@reddit

It's a horror movie for sailors. Watching it is equivalent to yelling "Don't go down the basement" in a traditional horror movie

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Sinn_Sage@reddit (OP)

What do you think about the movie Dead Calm?

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chisailor@reddit

Dead calm is better from a technical sailing standpoint. Like the VHF click for example was how I would have dealt with that situation….

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Sinn_Sage@reddit (OP)

Well, except that part where she was standing on top of the mast with no gear on. I guess she climbed it like a kid climbs a rope?

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chisailor@reddit

I didn’t say it was perfect. I said it was better than All is Lost…

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maine_buzzard@reddit

Now Sam O’Neil is a textbook in how to recover a sinking ship, dodge a skull, and deal with the one dude responsible for TWO maritime disasters.

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Difficult_Limit2718@reddit

Yeah but then he didb essentially kill two crews of space ships so...

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maine_buzzard@reddit

He’s one of those actors that can flip the switch from benign good to full on evil.

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throwawaycape@reddit

What does "dodging a skull" mean?

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maine_buzzard@reddit

Not a sailing term, you think it would be. In Dead Calm, Billy Zane has killed the crew of a large yacht and left it sinking with Sam O’Neil on board. He has to find the leak, dewater the bilge, and get the engine running. A great jump scare happens when Sam is swimming alongside the yacht and the head one of the earlier victims rolls out from a hole in the planks.

That movie is one of the better sailing movies from a technical sense. Sam’s character is a naval officer (IIRC) and resourceful, smart, and determined.

Who wouldn’t be for a young Nicole Kidman??

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dickwae@reddit

It's a remake of Knife In The Water (1962,) which is even better.

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Truji11o@reddit

Check out White Squall

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hellowiththepudding@reddit

Don’t trim that Jib sheet!

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jonathanrdt@reddit

Like watching Blair Witch: FOLLOW THE STREAM.

But they don't. And it just gets worse and worse.

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Big_Relative8784@reddit

The beginning was enough for me to shut it off. The fact that he's alone on a boat on tropical seas, sound asleep in the blazing hot, stuffy cabin (I think he was way up in the foc'sl), when he runs into a container that somehow miraculously came through the SIDE of the boat....

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Fire5hark@reddit

Tim for a shave. Unwatchable movie.

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Morall_tach@reddit

It's bad. True Spirit Is probably the best modern sailing movie I've seen, apart from one scene toward the very end that I get what they were doing, but I don't think they portrayed it very well.

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evilteddy@reddit

Have you seen the French film en Solitaire (Turning Tide in English)? Filmed on a real IMOCA. Probably it's greatest sin is that main character sits on the leeward side of the cockpit so they can get great shots of the water rushing behind him.

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Morall_tach@reddit

Literally unwatchable

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CharterJet50@reddit

Sure, True Spirit with amateur cheesy acting and horrible dialogue was better than Robert Redford in one of his most introspective moving roles just because it wasn’t realistic enough for a bunch of sailors who apparently never make mistakes.

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Morall_tach@reddit

The question was about sailing realism, not acting talent.

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CharterJet50@reddit

Well, we all veered off that when everyone said how much the movie sucked, which it really didn’t.

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enki-42@reddit

I liked Adrift. iT's not a cheery movie really but I don't think much about it was terribly inaccurate.

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light24bulbs@reddit

I know Tammy and I think she said there was not much they got wrong, if I remember correctly. You can also just read her book and compare it to the movie.

That's the difference with a true story I guess.

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Morall_tach@reddit

Yeah Adrift wasn't bad.

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fatbiker406@reddit

I remember watching True Spirit and in a early scene thinking "that wouldn't happen, she must have an AIS" and then later in the movie her dad chewed her out for not turning on the AIS. A good movie for sailors and non-sailors alike.

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goldfingerforu@reddit

I thought it was the most ridiculous movie ever. I don’t think they had a sailing consultant at all. Pure BS.
( offshore delivery capt)

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CharterJet50@reddit

The battery was under water. Jumper would have worked great!

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SVAuspicious@reddit

He stops to shave with a storm incoming? Really?

I think this is a metaphor for life going on. Would you rather a seen of him sitting on the toilet?

I don't expect every detail to be right in movies. Even with expert advisers, they miss things or make decisions that prioritize impact or audience understanding. Consider The Poseiden Adventure where people run through the upside-down ship engine room on the bottom of walkways. The expanded metal mesh hasn't fallen out (usually not secured for better access for maintenance and repair) and there are handrails on what would be the bottom of the walkway (I presume for safety of the actors and to use actors instead of stunt men). Nice roomy engine room also which is not real. I suspect pulling the battery and radio (and no attention to an antenna) falls in the category of catering to the audience.

I just laughed at the boom vang and moved on.

~~EPRB~~

EPIRB. FTFY. See how easy little mistakes are?

I'm a naval architect and marine engineer. 200k nm offshore under command. I enjoyed the movie. It's a good story. Like most movies about which you understand subject matter you have to set aside some disbelief and just enjoy the experience. I give it four stars out of five for a general audience. Compare to Wind five stars.

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dolphin_striker@reddit

I am lifelong sailor. I had to turn it off after the first 5 mins. It’s was too painful to watch.

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texasrigger@reddit

100%. It's like they had zero people with any sailing experience whatsoever consulting on it.

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Low-Republic-4145@reddit

It was made for an audience of non-sailors who don’t know the difference. Like all sailing movies. The obligatory storm scene in every one always has the sails up feebly flapping with a small fan simulating a Force 10 while the crew fiddles uselessly with a winch or something while getting doused with a water hose. I don’t know why they bother.

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CharterJet50@reddit

Sure, like nobody has ever been caught in a squall with a little too much sail. Like pretty much every ocean sailor.

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Stormin_333@reddit

I felt the same until someone pointed out he isnt supposed to be a competent sailor. Then it makes way more sense

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texasrigger@reddit

Im not necessarily complaining about his competence. The boat should have sunk several times in the opening few scenes like when he buried the hole in the hull underwater or when he had a roll-over while the hatch was open.

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fart0id@reddit

Or, you know, it’s a movie? If the guy did everything right it would’ve been a pretty boring one. Never understood this seek for realism in movies, it’s just a story, make-believe.

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texasrigger@reddit

That's such a cop-out response to excuse lazy filmmaking. They had no respect for the subject matter and it shows.

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Stormin_333@reddit

Quite the contrary. It was very realistic story about what can happen to an incompetent sailor

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texasrigger@reddit

If it were realistic he would have sunk about five different times in the opening 10 minutes.

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Ok_Copy_5690@reddit

This is exactly what I was going to write. Your comment should go right to the top. I had to turn it off also.

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CharterJet50@reddit

Then you missed an intense, moving personal story. If I wanted to watch a sailing lesson I’ll head over to YouTube.

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Disastrous-Angle-591@reddit

I think that’s what his character did too

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Phrostylicious@reddit

Watch it assuming that this is a guy who retired with some money and wanted to make his life long dream of sailing around come true. Spent some money on a sailing boat and went out once or twice with a friend who taught him starboard from port, leeward from windward.

So we're watching someone with basically zero serious experience and the troubles that gets him in....

Then suddenly everything makes sense.

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noname_null@reddit

This movie is not about sailing, it's about dementia. The sailor completely alone in the sea (as patients of dementlia are in real life) struggles, and keeps taking wrong decisions one after another. He is in a continuous suffering, etc.

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Cheers_u_bastards@reddit

I liked it, but after the first 10 min I mentally shifted thought of him as a sailor to him as a guy that made some money, retired, and followed a dream with no prior experience. Makes it much more palatable

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Bloodless10@reddit

I tried to watch it and got so frustrated because he didn’t make one damn decision right that I stopped part way through, and haven’t bothered to try it again. Maybe I’ll just assume he’s a complete dumbass that doesn’t know the bow from the stern and it will be more enjoyable. Is it worth watching?

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Disastrous-Angle-591@reddit

The first 10 seconds. As if he’d sleep through a hull breach collision.

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Rumblefish1@reddit

No! It gets worse as it goes on. Do not start watching it again!

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Cheers_u_bastards@reddit

I thought so. Again, just pretend he’s one of those guys that grew up in Omaha that always dreamed of sailing around the world, got divorced, and dove in head first. Then it makes sense.

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AZ424242@reddit

Actually, he is in the movie.
There is no indication, that he is a seasoned expert.

Most people hate the film, because they have this prejudice that Redford must be some pro sailor.

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tench745@reddit

I have largely forgotten what happened in the movie, but I got the impression that at some point he decided go sailing with the expectation that he wouldn't survive it. So, from that viewpoint the movie is him fighting to find his will to live. When things go wrong and it doesn't kill him it's like, "well... can I make this worse? No? Guess maybe I should try to stay alive until I can."

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AZ424242@reddit

Yes!

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Disastrous-Angle-591@reddit

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Clearly rage bait.

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SolentSurfer@reddit

It is the worse sailing adventure film I've ever seen, and one of the worse big-star films made, period. A pile of innacurate nonsense.

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mustacheful@reddit

Is a great movie and it’s recommended even by teachers, he makes everything to the Book. All the steps in an emergency, the tipe of sailor that doesn’t have GPS or EPRB , that now is obligatory.. but not before. I love the move, and yes.. for sailors like myself a horror movie.

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dwkfym@reddit

The best and only true sailing movie about The Real Liveabord Cruiser(tm) is Waterworld. Fight me.

Close second is Moana, but shes more like a youtube inspired sell-everything lifestyle sailor.

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chisailor@reddit

I will fight you. The best movie bout liveaboard cruising (even though it’s a delivery) is captain Ron.

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RuleSerious_@reddit

Did you know there's an alternate version Waterworld referred to as The Ulysses Cut?

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MTonmyMind@reddit

If Jeanne Tripplehorn was my first mate…. I’d not only would never set foot on land again, but i might welcome the apocalypse. Sans Smokers.

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RevLoveJoy@reddit

For clarity are gills or are gills not part of this Faustian bargain?

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MTonmyMind@reddit

I wouldn't be bothered either way.

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millijuna@reddit

Don't forget Captain Ron!

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1dratherbefishing@reddit

"Best way to find out is out on the ocean, if something's going to happen it's going to happen out there" My favorite quote after working on my outboard.

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millijuna@reddit

As someone who had to just replace their cranky 40 year old Yanmar 1GM10, I feel that.

Hopefully our new Beta 16 will treat us well, but we're heading out to the west side of Vancouver Island, so we'll find out!

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band-of-horses@reddit

Damn straight, best sailing movie of all time!

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dickwae@reddit

Are we just going to ignore Tommy Boy?

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band-of-horses@reddit

Do you mean Cabin Boy?

These pipes are clean!

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dickwae@reddit

No, the famous sailing movie Tommy Boy.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2iCV4Xr13N/

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Weak-Carpet3339@reddit

Me too. Had an Irwin 28 that was used in the movie.😪

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dwkfym@reddit

Mom my glasses broke and the lens fell out!!!!

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dickwae@reddit

Are we just going to ignore Tommy Boy?

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Sinn_Sage@reddit (OP)

You know that they had a real crew inside the hull sailing the boat while KK was just spinning the winches for his daily cardio.

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dwkfym@reddit

Yeah that's a real sailing vessel. But I'm still sending you a threatening gesture with my hand going across my throat

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chisailor@reddit

It’s one of if not the worst movies when it comes to the technicalities of sailing.

As a long distance solo sailor myself , it can’t make it more than 45 min into it before I start yelling at the TV.

I call it “all is wrong” because almost all of it IS wrong. It’s like it was written by someone who sailed 2-3x on a friends boat and that person then thought the knew how to sail.

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RevLoveJoy@reddit

Ah, this one again. I look forward to an array of comments filled with sensible and refined criticism.

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Over-Toe2763@reddit

It’s terrible. It’s been a while but the two things I remember: he tries to fix the VHF with a 10 mile range rather than the satellite phone. Your VHF is only useful if a ship is close enough to SEE.

And: at some point he puts the life raft out, ties it to the ship and sleeps in it. wHY??? If the boat sinks it will pull down the raft. It it does not sink: stay on the boat.

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Raneynickelfire@reddit

1%. Most sailors who watch this movie are drunk and screaming at the screen the entire time.

It's....it's bad in terms of sailing, but it's a fun movie.

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Dockalfar@reddit

And no EPRB?

Or sat phone? But to be fair, I dont think they ever specified what year this film takes place, so an EPIRB may not have been an option. I could be wrong, but I believe the first small units came out around 2003.

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celery48@reddit

We had EPRBs back in the 80s.

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Neptune7924@reddit

It’s a move. I thought it was good. Felt bad they killed the boats…

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velthesethingshappen@reddit

Kinda of a strange movie…..starts in the middle with no back story or reference to whats going on… Poor preparedness in a lot of areas..no manual bilge pump handle? Come on.

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Reptilian_Brain_420@reddit

It's a movie.

+

It's about something.

=

It isn't realistic.

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CharterJet50@reddit

The thing I love about all the criticism is that it ignores the fact that most every real life sea disaster starts with a series of mistakes that all these know it alls swear they would never make themselves only fir yet another sea disaster story to come out that tells the same story of mistakes piled on mistakes. Real world people make mistakes so in many ways it’s an incredibly realistic movie. It’s also a very intense deliberative treatise on man’s will to live if you can put your sailing manual down for a minute and just enjoy a master at work.

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jfinkpottery@reddit

To be fair, most sailors really would not make those errors, which is why most sailers don't end up adrift at sea in a lifeboat with no food or water. It's easy to come in here all "nobody's perfect", but we aren't really holding him to that high a bar.

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CharterJet50@reddit

And to be fair, many of the criticisms of his actions aren’t even correct, or completely miss the reasons he did certain things. Many people seem to have not even watched the movie, accusing him of things he didn’t even do. Getting hit by a shipping container and waking up in the water would send most people on a loop. I’d love to see movies of most critics in the same situation.

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SnooDogs157@reddit

I had to watch this movie 3 times just to get past all the stupid things his character did. On the 4th watch I started to notice the acting.

I loved his 10 pound 6 man life raft. Amazing he learned Celestial Nav on his own. Brand new sextant. Neither of the reference books for sighting. Even with noon sighting he’d never get the map coordinates he came up with.

He awakens to a container hole-ing his hull then tacks the boat with the hole on the low side? He clips his harness (no pfd) onto the lifeline?? It’s been a while since I watched it so there’s probably much more. I was so mad at the writers for apparently not even consulting a sailor.

We are sinking we are sinking !

What are you sinking about?

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CharterJet50@reddit

He had yo tack for shirt time to release the container. Then he tacked back. Some of the stuff people criticize, like this, is just ridiculous.

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Mrkvitko@reddit

Personally I think The Boat is more realistic... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_(2018_film)

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Professional-Time444@reddit

Just read the first couple sentences of the plot on wiki, lmao

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terra-nullius@reddit

Seriously the funniest plot outline I’ve read in a minute. 10/10 will watch

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countsachot@reddit

That sounds like a fairly horrific time!

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Angry_Sparrow@reddit

Adrift is much closer to reality.

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theFCCgavemeHPV@reddit

I hated this movie. WHY DID HE NEED TO SHAVE RIGHT THEN? It pisses me off to this day. Every time I see a storm coming I still tell my husband he better go shave. It’s a joke, but I also still feel my blood pressure rise because omfgaykm

This movie was the frustration equivalent to shows and movies where the whole plot revolves around no one communicating like an adult. Like if they just talked about things with the right people like a normal person, there would be no story whatsoever. If he just wasn’t a complete fucking moron, there would be no movie.

I am going to spend the rest of the day angry that this movie exists and that I had to watch it, thanks. Now where is my beta blocker?

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globalgelato@reddit

Anyone seen Flow? It’s an animated feature from Latvia (won an Oscar). It’s not a sailing movie, but I recall the animals in this doing a better job sailing than Robert Redford! Lol

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Pumbaasliferaft@reddit

It’s like a megalodon movie, or Sharknado

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NessunoUNo@reddit

All he needed was a few good rolls of Flex Tape. /s

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NessunoUNo@reddit

https://giphy.com/gifs/VeSvZhPrqgZxx2KpOA

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Lord-of_the-files@reddit

What about the film about Jessica Watson going round the world, and they portray bring becalmed as being some sort of eery silence where you could hear a pin drop.

I would absolutely love it if that's how it actually worked. Just think of the sleep you could catch up on.

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Secret-Temperature71@reddit

It was not about sailing. So they paid no attention to the sailing bits. Realism was non-existent.

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charleytaylor@reddit

Is this a serious question, or are you just trying to stir the pot?

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Adddicus@reddit

It's the worst portrayal of sailing, not just off shore sailing, but sailing, that I've ever seen.

Hmmmm, storm's a-comin. I best be looking my best when it gets here, so I'll shave. Then wait until the storm has been raging right on top of me for twenty minutes before I bother to reef the main.

LIke..... wtf??? It must have been written by someone that has never sailed, and probably never read a book or seen a movie in which someone else sailed. It's that stupid.

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Wander_Globe@reddit

This question comes up every month or so on different forums and sailors are like:

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pommi15@reddit

I loved when he just rammed into the container and later when he had the boat heeling over on the side the huge hole was. Like. Tack my man. Then fix the hole.

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New_Day_Co-op2@reddit

My favorite part is the perfectly fresh basket of fruit in the middle of the Pacific

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pembquist@reddit

This is the problem with watching a movie that has slightly esoteric specialist knowledge as part of the plot etc. Movies depend on your suspension of disbelief and it is tough to keep that up when some clanger comes along. The plot kind of depends on not being incommunicado and inserting some exposition about why no EPIRB would just be a distraction.

I'm going off memory but using a block and tackle to go up the mast used to be pretty standard, using ascenders is relatively new.

I generally enjoyed the movie except that it seemed really murky but that might just be the movie theater I saw it in saving light bulbs or something. The part that pulled me out of the movie was, (if I remember right,) he goes to get a harness during a storm by going on deck from the cockpit to the forward hatch? And then there was some kind of capsize/pitchpoll boat underwater thing.

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edmccoyii@reddit

Its only real portion of the film is when he shouts “FUUUUCK!!”. The rest is garbage.

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Hordearius@reddit

Thales, mate! This is the first instance of this discussion I’ve seen this calendar year! Closer to the movie’s release, we had this discussion daily, or at least every week! Tons of opinions on the subject are a search query away :-) That reminds me - I’m prolly due for a rewatch! Personally, I loved the movie but was not impressed with the dialogue.

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jonathanrdt@reddit

Script writer couldn't write a conversation out of a wet paper bag.

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TheAmicableSnowman@reddit

Great take.

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Frosty_Assist_4013@reddit

I think the armchair critics have forgotten he’s single handing across an ocean and your brain makes stupid decisions when it’s tired. And it’s never the one thing. It’s always a series of things that happen that reduces your choices and chances bit by bit!

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redtopharry@reddit

Then he sets the boat on fire to attract the attention of a passing ship.

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Windmill-inn@reddit

I feel like the way that I sail sometimes is also not that realistic lol. The audience watching my movie would be like “why did he do that? It doesn’t make sense!” Uh, because it seemed like a good idea at the time inside my shitty mind

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LameBMX@reddit

here is mine:

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ohthetrees@reddit

My dad and I are life long sailors. We had great time roasting it. Shame they didn’t hire a sailing consultant because the performance and directing was really strong

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Then-Price-5314@reddit

Most realistic sailing movie, for me, is Hide Away.

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SailnGame@reddit

I had a page of noted about the unrealistic things and poor choices that were made in the first 10 minutes. I will never watch it again and if I hear people talking about it I will warn them away from the movie.

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stubobarker@reddit

A bunch of us local sailors went to watch in the theater when it came out. Within minutes we were being shushed by other movie goers due to all the snickering…

Great movie for non-sailors to learn exactly what not to do in every. single. situation. Besides the sheer stupidity of virtually everything he did, or did not do, the first question we had was “were there no actual sailors in any part of the movie crew? No consultants?” How could you make a movie when nobody has any experience on the water??

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