User Reviews

Great movie that never lost my attention. Between the surprising twists (that I won't mention because they would be spoilers) and the intense action all through the movie I was glued to the screen. Shailene Woodley's great acting carried the movie like, in a smaller way, how Tom Hanks captivated in Cast Away. Definitely worth seeing. I would suggest see it without knowing much about the story.

It's a great movie, it's just best that you go into it knowing as little about it as possible. The movie tells its own story and according to Tami it tells it very well. It's one of those that has you whispering "oh no" and "not again" every so often and you really feel as hopeless as the situation must have felt at the time.

It's also refreshing to have a movie that tells an exciting movie about ordinary people doing extraordinary things without something blowing up or morphing into a piece of machinery.

"Adrift" (PG-13, 2:00) is an action-adventure drama-romance produced and directed by Baltasar Kormákur ("Everest", "2 Guns", "The Deep") and written by David Branson Smith ("Ingrid Goes West") and Aaron and Jordan Kandell ("Moana"), based on the book by Tami Ashcraft. Unlike most movies dramatizing something that actually happened, this one doesn't begin with the usual qualifiers of "Based on a true story" or "Inspired by a true story". This one tells us simply, "This is a true story."

Tami Oldham (Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Shailene Woodley) is a single 24-year-old adventurer, originally from San Diego, who works her way from place to place on a worldwide voyage of self-discovery. As the film opens, she gets off a boat in Tahiti and responds to the custom agent's questions by admitting she doesn't have an occupation or any idea how long she'll be staying in the country. In spite of her apparent aimlessness, she gets her passport stamped and starts working at the docks doing maintenance on various pleasure craft. That's where she meets the handsome and charming Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin), who is in the process of sailing around the world on a journey similar to Tami's.

Tami and Richard are well on their way to falling in love when a wealthy older couple ask Richard to sail their yacht to San Diego, in exchange for $10,000 and a First Class airline ticket back to Tahiti. Make that two First Class tickets. Tami says she's not ready to go home yet, but she doesn't want to be separated from her new love, so she comes along for the ride... and, as a novice sailor herself, to help out where she can. Unfortunately for the young lovers, they get caught up in a monster storm at sea that damages the boat - and each of them - severely. The best solution seems to be allowing the prevailing currents to carry the boat east, try to navigate towards Hawaii - and try to survive long enough to get there.

"Adrift" is this film's title, but the story is anything but. Appearing in flashbacks, the story of Tami and Richard is told parallel with the story of the journey to Hawaii. It's an especially effective plot device in this intelligent screenplay. The two leads are each first class actors who play their roles expertly and with undeniable chemistry. This film compares well with Robert Redford's "All is Lost" and Tom Hanks' "Cast Away", with the added allure of the romance and the strong foundation of being a true story. "A-"

My wife and I watched this at home on BluRay from our local library. The picture and sound are great and the surround sound makes you feel like you are in the middle of a storm.

The title sort of gives the plot away, the core story is survival during a long period in a disabled sailboat. There really isn't a lot fancy going on here, moviewise, but it is a well-made movie and knowing it really happened adds to the value of watching it.

Shailene Woodley as Tami Oldham and Sam Claflin as Richard Sharp were near the correct ages of 24 and 33 when the depicted story occurred. He was sailing all over the world when they met in Tahiti, she was just working herself along, traveling to random places, getting away from her upbringing in San Diego.

An older couple he knew needed to fly back to the states so they asked Richard to sail their larger boat to San Diego for them, he would get $10,000 for his efforts and a first class airfare back to his boat. He said OK but make that two first class tickets.

The two of them headed out, sailing happily together, until the weather turned bad. It was 1983, the systems for early warning of hurricanes was not as good as it is today.

Good movie of an interesting story of love and survival. The editing technique has the movie cutting often to several months earlier and then to the film's present.

The free spirit American drifter Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley) arrives in Tahiti and finds a job at the marina. When she meets the British sailor Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin), they immediately fall in love with each other. They stumble upon Richard´s old friends and they offer ten thousand dollars plus first class air tickets for them to sail their sailing ship to San Diego. Richard and Tami accept the offer but along their journey, there is a storm that throws Richard in the sea and wreaks the vessel. Tami rescues Richard from the water and they fight to survive while the vessel is adrift. Will they survive?

"Adrift" is a good film with a story of love and survival. Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin show great chemistry and wonderful performances. The screenplay entwining past and present keeps the interest in the film until the very end with an unexpected plot point. The direction and the special effects are magnificent, giving the sensation that the sailing ship is crossing a storm indeed. The camera work is also impressive shooting in small spaces with perfect edition. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Vidas à Deriva" ("Adrift Lives")

Adrift is a beautiful little tale about a young couple who fall foul of a severe storm while out boating.

Starring the underrated Shailene Woodley and Hunger Games star Sam Claflin it at it's core is a love story but like all love stories it's also a tragedy.

Based on a true story it plays out on two fronts, what is presently happening and the flashbacks that explain how it all came to be.

The movie is rather devoid of originality and we have seen it all before (Even the twist) but the film does have a strong cast and excellent cinematography to fall back on and that certainly rises it above the average.

I like Woodley, I expected her to have a considerably bigger career than she has and hope that competent little movies like this where she really shines can do something about that.

The film is utterly beautiful and worth your time even if you'll know exactly how it's going to play out.

The Good:

Very well acted

Visually stunning

The Bad:

Hardly original

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

When suffering from dehydration the best thing to do is drink alcohol

Why do I feel like Woodleys career has been eclipsed by Jennifer Lawrence?

Plot - good. Acting game - good. Mixing between past and present - also a good idea. So there're pretty good things about the movie. But the main problem is that the film is somehow slow (even though it's only 90 minutes) and the last half an hour was boring. I wouldn't watch it again but I don't regret spending time on it so I would say the IMDb raiting is definitely too low.

Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley) finds herself alone on a sailing boat broken by a devastating storm. Five months earlier in 1983, she arrives in Tahiti after finishing a tour on a sailing ship. She had left her San Diego family to travel the world. She and Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin) fall in love. They are offered an opportunity to sail an older couple's boat back to San Diego. They run into the storm and Tami struggle to survive.

This movie is split between two time periods. Everything after the storm is solid man-against-nature adventure. The stuff before the storm is less compelling. The meet-cute is fun. The courtship can be a bit of an info dump. Overall, this is Shailene stretching her survivalist acting chops. The final twist is not the most dramatic although I guess it has to fit the true story. A different fictionalization could have added more intensity. It should have done more with the survival story and trimmed back on the courtship story.

Well, maybe I lack sophistication, but I thought it was a beautiful story and movie. The way it was interwoven with flashbacks and the present and engineered with dramatic and unforeseen elements really made it quite compelling. It demonstrated the depths of love in a very effective way that stayed with me long after it was over.

A story based on fact but characters didn't provoke much sympathy (of course I am sorry for what happened to them) but they came over as a couple of itinerants just buming around. Even so it was a story of survival and all credit for that. As a film it was interesting but not great.

I hate it when I see people rating this movie 10/10 because the story was very inspiring. That's not all a movie is about, so I'm quite disappointed at the end ignorance of some.

The acting was good, but I feel like the plot was kind of boring. It wasn't intriguing at all. I do agree that the story was very inspiring, but the plot just wasn't and had I known the story before walking into the theatre, I'd have definitely expected an average plot.

Directing definitely wasn't bad, but I'm afraid I don't have a lot of good things to say about it. The plot was boring, the directing and the acting was average. Don't expect too much from it.

This is a movie about a real story and a real woman who is definitely special and brave. I liked it, the story is romantic, interesting and very touchable, I cried a lot. However, it is also sad and makes feel how is loose someone that you really love, but also how is survive lost in the ocean for many days. I think it is a very good movie.

Let me start by saying I dislike constant flashback movies. Having got that out of the way the story may be true but makes for weak cinema. I found myself looking at my watch a great deal waiting for something gripping to happen. The storm scenes are well done but squint and you can see where the CGI begins and ends (am I the only one that thought Titanic looked like a 2D cardboard cut-out on some scenes???). Not quite a waste of time for a couple of hours on the same afternoon that England got through the quarter finals of the world cup but I (almost) would rather have watched that and I'm NOT a soccer fan. As I said disappointed. If you want to watch an exciting yacht based movie try Dead Calm - no contest.

Based on a true story. A bittersweet tale of high seas adventure, based on a true story. Worked well with flash backs to the back story. Well paced with excellent performances. Outstanding performance from Shailey Woodley. I can't imagine being lost at sea for that long, a total nightmare.

Greetings again from the darkness. Ever since the "Master of Suspense" Alfred Hitchcock captured the intensity of being stranded at sea in LIFEBOAT (1944), there have been numerous films, with varying levels of success, taking advantage of this fear shared by many folks: ALL IS LOST (2013), LIFE OF PI (2012), OPEN WATER (2003), THE PERFECT STORM (2000), DEAD CALM (1989), and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972). While some of these feature elements of true events, it's this latest film, adapted from Tami Oldham's memoir "Red Sky in Mourning: The True Story of Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea", that tells the remarkable true story of Tami and her boyfriend Richard.

Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur has had a hit and miss career (EVEREST, 2 GUNS, CONTRABAND, THE SEA), and this one mostly works on many levels: romance, adventure, suspense, natural catastrophe, and survival. Beyond that, it's fantastic to look at thanks to the work of Cinematographer Robert Richardson (9 time Oscar nominee, 3 time winner: HUGO, THE AVIATOR, JFK). Even though Tami's remarkable saga occurred in 1983, it took all these years for the film to get made - further proof that it's a new day in Hollywood! The story of a woman isolated in nature, fighting the odds to live another day would have (and this one often has) previously been back-burnered or shifted to have yet another manly man in the lead. Not this time. Shailene Woodley plays Tami and it's her most physical role to date.

The opening scene shows Tami waking up on the damaged boat in the aftermath of Hurricane Raymond. It then flashes back 5 months to her arrival in Tahiti and her initial introduction to Richard (Sam Claflin), a charming solo sailor who is nearly, but not quite, her equal in free-spiritedness. The 3 co-writers, twin brothers Aaron and Jordan Kandell (MOANA) and David Branson Smith (INGRID GOES WEST) wisely opt against a first half romance followed by second half survival tale. Instead, the bits and pieces are doled out in segments that allow us to connect with the soul-bonding without losing the intensity of the stranded at sea tale. It's a delicate balancing act that works thanks to the performance of Woodley and the camera of Richardson.

For many of us, the concept of sailing from Tahiti to San Diego with someone we've known for a few months would be a bit overwhelming. But these two lovebird and adventurous spirits head off thinking of it as fun and an opportunity to fund even more fun. It's a story of the power of love and the strength of survival instincts. Rarely have a sextant, Skippy Peanut Butter and Tom Waits music combined for such vital roles in a movie, and it's nice to see Ms. Woodley gain a Producer's credit since she was a driving force in getting the film made.

The 41 day ordeal is told from Tami's view (it is, after all, based on her book), and the strength of this 23 year old gets the treatment it deserves with some absolutely terrific sequences filmed at sea. Though Tami doesn't battle sharks or have Wilson the volleyball to keep her company, her coping mechanism is even more mind-bending. It may not be the light-hearted summer fare we are accustomed to, but it's one worth watching.

Adrift ( 3.5 out of 5 stars).

Adrift is a survival drama film based on a true story of Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley) and Richard (Sam Claflin) who are sailing from Tahiti to San Diego and getting caught in the middle of a hurricane that capsizes there boat. While adrifting in the middle of the ocean, they have to ration food supplies and trying to stay alive until they can reach the nearest land. Adrift is a pretty decent film. The romance part of the story works as Tami meets Richard and they both fall in love months before they set a long journey sail. The survival part of the story can be thrilling and heartbreaking to see. But definitely a worthy film to see.

The plot follows Tami, who is adventurous and has not returned home for years. But she meets Richard, who is an avid sailor. They share stories about there personal life. They both fall for each other. Richard gets an offer from another couple, which are traveling back to England. And are offering him $10,000 to sail there boat back to San Diego. Richard and Tami agree. Until only, they get caught with hurricane Raymond. Which destroys their boat and leaves Richard severely wounded. Tami being her first time sailing. Is going to have to learn to navigate the open water and ration supplies. While the hallucinations, dehydration, and the struggle to survive keeps her moving.

The film opens to the audience with Tami waking up after the hurricane has damaged their sailboat. She is wounded, confused, and lost when she gets on top to realize they are in the middle of nowhere. And Richard overboard and nowhere to be seen. Than, it flashes back to months before the hurricane and showcases of Tami meeting Richard. Going on beautiful scenery hikes, sailing, and falling for each other as they watch the sunset. The movie does work well with two different time frame narratives with one Tami and Richard trying to survive and navigate a broken sail boat. While the other is them building there relationship.

Shailene Woodley did give a great performance. She is beautiful as an independent girl being adventurous and taking her time exploring around the world. Sam Claflin was good too, as a sailor and enjoys sailing in the open waters with living life on the edge facing against being isolated and trying to survive.

Director Baltasar Kormakur did well with handling this survival/romance story. He captured some beautiful shots of sunset and sailing in the ocean. Delivered a thrilling hurricane sequence with a sailboat facing against giant waves that are seconds away from crushing it. The film does have a twist which some may predict it while others may be surprised and heartbroken.

I did feel like the film was a bit anti climatic in the third act. It dragged a little in the last ten minutes of the movie. With a little added exposition with the character.

Overall, Adrift is a pretty fair romantic drama film. With a story and concept of romance and survival were characters are facing against hallucinations, hunger, and trying to navigate the open waters. Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin both delivered with their performances. And the two narratives worked great in keeping the pace moving with the love story and getting straight to the point with the aftermath of the hurricane.

I definitely recommend seeing the film in theatres if you enjoy watching heartbreaking survival movies with a bit of a love story.

This one grew on me as it went on. At first, I found the two lead characters somewhat annoying. This combined with the flashback/present storytelling had me frustrated - but as the two stories unfolded, they began to complement each other quite well.

'Adrift' is all a bit sad - but when it's pairing Shailene Woodley (The Fault in Our Stars) with Sam Claflin (Me Before You) it's to be expected!

The depiction of the hurricane itself left me breathless - excellent cinematography that made me feel like I was about to be washed overboard. It threw me back to stories my sailor friend told me of her solo skippering of a yacht through a hurricane in the Atlantic (mental note: get her opinion on this!)

The tension and drama is effectively cranked up at times too. It's no surprise that this was directed by Baltasar Kormákur of 'Everest' fame. I enjoyed the plot twist, which I felt took the film to a new level. Probably the best film example of 'the third man factor'. If you're curious, check out the book "The Third Man Factor" by John Geiger.

"Adrift" is a good survival drama that you know what to expect but Shailene Woodley makes it more emotionally satisfying than it would be otherwise. All the performances are exceptional, directed with good pace and beautiful cinematography and effects by Baltasar Kormakur.

This realistic, suspenseful and romantic, true story it's not quite as exciting as watching Blake Lively fighting against sharks in "The Shallows" from two summers ago, but there's still enough of interest to keep the new nautical drama "Adrift" afloat. And of course it is always refreshing to see a film where a female protagonist isn't passively waiting for a rescue. Overall it is an entertaining film with a solid dramatization of real events.

Could have been a great movie, if only they'd given us a reason to care. The leads are shallow supporting actors, at best. The characters live out lives of unredeemed escapism. Their fate seems like nothing more than an object lesson in the folly of self-centred, youthful hubris. You might as well watch the movie on mute, you won't miss anything.

I was a little worried going in that knowing the true story would dull the impact. I didn't need to. As I was watching the movie, I found myself forgetting all about it. That's the power of great acting and story telling. The structure of the film was brilliant. Starting with the aftermath of the hurricane and then alternating between the story of Tami and Richard falling in love and building a relationship and the one of them trying to survive worked on many levels. It helped give both stories a sense of time passage while keeping the film moving at great pace. The alternating scenes informed each other. But even more importantly when the two stories converged they did it so perfectly at the moment so precise, the impact was twice as strong. Of course none of this would have worked if the acting weren't so heartbreakingly real. Shailene Woodley made everything Tami felt so vivid and palpable, it was like I felt it with her. She was assisted beautifully by Sam Claflin in what I consider the definition of a great supporting performance. He was given little to work with and some questionable quality lines (which he magically stripped of all cheese). Yet he made Richard a living, breathing human being, so loving and lovable, that when Shailene's Tami was smitten by him, it was impossible not to be smitten along with her and not to feel everything else she felt for him.

'ADRIFT': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A survival drama based on the true story of a couple that got stranded in the Pacific Ocean, and then had to find their way home to Hawaii without any help or navigational tools. It stars Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin, and it's based on the book 'Red Sky at Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea' (by Tami Oldham Ashcraft and Susea McGearhart). The film was scripted by Aaron Kandell, Jordan Kandell and David Branson Smith, and it was directed and produced by Baltasar Kormákur (who's also helmed the disaster flicks 'THE DEEP' and 'EVEREST'). It's received mixed to positive reviews from critics so far, and I found it to be somewhat involving and intense at times.

The story focuses on sailors Tami Oldham (Woodley) and Richard Sharp (Claflin), who took a sailing job in 1983 and sailed right into a hurricane. The disaster left them stranded in the Pacific Ocean, with both their boat badly damaged, as well as Richard seriously wounded. It was up to Tami, the lesser experienced of the two sailors, to lead them back to Hawaii without any navigational tools. The two were also deeply in love as well.

The film is well shot and acted. I'm a Shailene Woodley fan, and I was once again impressed with her starring performance in particular. The romance seems a little old and routine, and it never felt particularly emotional or heartfelt to me. The survival scenes are well done though, and Woodley makes a great reluctant action heroine (once again). There's also a nice twist that I didn't see coming, at the end. Overall the movie is pretty much exactly what I expected it to be, nothing more and nothing less, which is a 3.5 star rating (out of 5) for me.