Adrift (dir. Baltasar Kormákur)

In a rare change of form, upon seeing the obligatory "Producer" credit for the lead actress in "Adrift", i wasn't met with an overarching sense of dread. Interestingly, star Shailenne Woodley - who here turns her best performance in a long time - is the greatest asset to this reasonably entertaining survival drama, based on the true story of Tami Oldham Ashcraft, and should be congratulated on her multi-faceted skill set - even if the film is strangely flawed.

Filmed on location in Fiji, Woodley plays serial traveller Tami, who upon washing up on a french Polynesian island in 1983, after working sporadic cooking jobs on "scooters". She meets affable Brit Richard (Sam Claifin) and a whirlwind romance ensues; with their mutual admiration for sailing and traversing the globe becoming the catalyst for their impending engagement. Tami's a distant native of San Diego, California, but hasn't been back in several years - navigating different parts of the planet in search of a new adventure. Richard, on the other hand, is seven years her senior, and a picturesque wall of adventures pleases Tami's nomadic ways, so when a local friend asks Richard to sail his boat back to California (a near 2000 mile task), he asks Tami to accompany him.

Adopting a narrative style seen frequently of late, where the real meaty action set-pieces are interspersed with mundane plot exposition, director Kormákur offers a unique perspective on proceedings that never truly materializes. We're immediately told that the aformentioned trip across the high-seas doesn't go to plan, as the duo are uncerimoniously dumped head-on into Hurricane Andrew, with Tami awakening to find Richard no-where to be seen and their boat a capsized mess. Though these elements of the narrative are by far the most groundbreaking - in addition to some visually arresting backdrops - the director of "Everest" feels it necessary to quickly return to Tami and Richard's first assignations, often just as the story starts to resemble the juicier elements of the novel on which it was based.

Though thankfully this filmmaking device is only shoehorned into the first two quarters, and by the third most of the drama concentrates on Tami's knack for survival. With Richard incapacitated with a broken leg and sore ribs, it's down to the inexperienced of the two on-board to somehow find a way to land, even as daily obstacles of starvation and hallucinations take their toll. Kudos to Woodley for being the knight in shining armor here, as her consistent wailing and differences of opinion could have easily fallen into melodramatic waters, yet the Californian actress is completely believable as the headstrong 24 year old thrust into an impossible position, and the films greatest moments are our young heroine wrestling with her own physicality. Claiflin - although not tasked with much come the final moments of the film - is equally impressive, adding an air of joyful exuberance to proceedings, and allowing the audience to completely believe in their union.

Yet the memorable aspects of this romantic drama are not exclusively performance lead, as both the cinematography by Robert Richardson and the musical score from Volker Bertelsmann are equally of note - adding to the films tension and even going as far as producing a shock here or there in the more dramatic moments. Though it's down to the directors choice of narrative style which brings this aquatic-set romance down to the realms of the mediocre, though notwithstanding the brilliance of it's central lead, "Adrift" is a welcoming use of two hours but feels like a wasted opportunity,

Rating 2.5/5