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Review: ‘Dead Calm’ is an Immersive and Taut High Concept Thriller
Phillip Noyce’s 1989 film is a white-knuckle boat ride boasting three strong performances
While it is undoubtedly a massive shame that an adaptation of Charles Williams’ novel Dead Calm, begun by Orson Welles in the late 1960s and titled ‘The Deep’ was never able to come to proper, viewable existence (as with many of Welles’ productions over the years), it would seem that there were few better choices for eventual replacements than screenwriter Terry Hayes (of Mad Max: The Road Warrior and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome), producer George Miller (whose versatility as a director remains practically unmatched given his ability to direct each of the Mad Max films alongside Happy Feet, The Witches of Eastwick and Babe: Pig in the City) and director Phillip Noyce (whose versatility is more like inconsistency than anything worth getting excited over). Their 1989 adaptation of Williams’ novel, this time maintaining the book’s name, is a rigorously made and gripping thrill ride… other than its final minute or so, anyway.
It was the film’s premise and its three leading actors which caught my attention, not noticing Miller and co.’s involvement until later on. The story is deceptively simple — a couple on a boat, Rae and John Ingram (Nicole Kidman, in her…
