Adrift (2018) * *

Directed by:  Baltasar Kormakur

Starring:  Shailene Woodley, Sam Claflin

I've seen enough movies about people stranded at sea to know I don't need to see another one.    Life of Pi (2012) had plenty of visual splendor and thoughtfulness.    We also had Unbroken (2014), in which the 40-day stranding was the undercard prior to the main event, and All Is Lost (2013) which starred Robert Redford (and only Robert Redford) as a man hopelessly doomed at sea.    There is only so much you can do with such a plot.   The people change, but the hazards remain the same, and even though some are based on true stories, like Adrift, we just can't help but realize this is all too familiar.

Adrift stars the ever-appealing Shailene Woodley as Tami Oldham, a 23-year old in 1983 Tahiti who meets and falls in love with sailor Richard Sharp (Claflin), who is soon hired to sail a yacht to San Diego.   Tami goes along, but the yacht is soon engulfed by a hurricane and nearly sunk.    Tami and Richard then set course for Hawaii using only their sailing and survival know-how to keep themselves alive.    Tami has a nasty cut on her forehead, but is mostly okay physically.   Richard has broken ribs, a concussion, and a gash on his leg which cuts right to the bone.    There is little fresh water and rations to go around, and soon both will suffer from malnutrition, starvation, dehydration, and a litany of other horrors.

They have each other, at least, or so it would seem.   Since Adrift is based on a true story, those familiar with the story will know the twist before those unfamiliar (like myself) would.    Adrift bounces back and forth from the scenes which led up to the hurricane and the endless days of trying to survive.    The early days are seen as a banal romance.    Richard and Tami seem nice enough, but are only mildly interesting, and not enough so to want to spend 41 days at sea with.    Woodley is a charmer, and Claflin is serviceable, if not terribly compelling.    The movie might have been better serviced by telling it from the beginning and fleshing out the characters.   

Adrift touches all of the points you've seen in movies just like this, but it never provides a personal spin to make us care about these people.    We don't want them to die, of course, no more than we wanted Pi, Robert Redford, and Louis Zamperini to perish.    But, Adrift has nothing new to say.   it checks off the boxes you would expect in such a film.    Soon, I was waiting to see dazzling flying fish just to boost the energy.