The first glimpse many movie goers got of Nicole Kidman came aboard a sailboat with one very unsavory passenger aboard.
That isn’t counting Kidman’s superlative turn in the 1983 classic “BMX Bandits,” of course.
“Dead Calm,” the 1989 thriller from director Phillip Noyce (“Salt”), introduced audiences to the stunning redhead. But while the movie put her in near constant peril, it didn’t give her the chance to show off her impressive range.
That would come later.
In “Dead Calm,” Kidman plays Rae, a woman mourning the loss of her young son. Rae and her husband, John (Sam Neill), embark on a long boat trip to clear their minds and reconnect as husband and wife. The couple float for weeks without seeing another boat, but one day they spot a small craft puttering away from a larger vessel that appears abandoned.
The man aboard the tiny boat is Huey (Billy Zane), the only survivor of a food poisoning epidemic which wiped out the boat’s crew. Or, at least that’s the story Huey is selling. John and Rae are immediately suspicious, one of many lost opportunities in this trashy, but ultimately compelling thriller.
Kidman certainly proves she’s more than another damsel in distress here, forging a credible bond with Neill in their early scenes together. But the film asks Rae to act in a rather stupid fashion again and again in order to prolong the thrills. That means Rae passes up a string of golden opportunities to smite Huey once and for all.
Noyce, an action film veteran with a gimlet eye for composition, knows how to maximize the film’s cramped sets. He also gets a fine cuckoo performance from Zane, even if the actor isn’t given a credible back story or any other direction beyond, “appear on the edge of sanity.”
The film could have veered off in so many tasty directions. Perhaps John and Huey would compete for Rae’s affections, each offering something the other cannot. Instead, all possible subtext is stripped away in favor of one confrontation atop another. And that’s fine, for a while. But the balance of power between the leads isn’t as unfair as expected, forcing the story to insult our intelligence.
You know the moment you see a scrappy dog aboard the boat he’ll be commandeered for some lame plot twist.
The open seas remain a scary place to set a thriller, and “Dead Calm” proves even a flawed ocean adventure can be worth our while. Especially if we get to stay in the company of a future Oscar winner like Kidman.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice to see some Kidman love! I think she has loads of talent, even though she has turned her face into plastic. The latest Adam Sandler is also proof she can hold her own in a comedy. Let’s pretend Austraila never happened, okay?
Agreed on the talent (God, was To Die For that long ago???), but can we forget The Stepford Wives and Bewitched, too?
Ouch! I wasn’t even thinking about those bombs. Yes, forget those, too. I hated Eyes Wide Shut, but she is good in it. To Die For and Far and Away are still my favorite Kidman flicks, but Dead Calm and Moulin Rouge are also up there.
I’ve always thought “Dead Calm” is a great way to escape onto the open seas for a couple hours without having to leave your living room. Plus, there’s always the baby-faced (but strangely flat-chested, here at least) Nicole Kidman to moon over.
I really liked her in “Eyes Wide Shut”, but too each his/her own. I never saw “Dead Calm” but have heard raves from my hair stylist so I guess it is time to get off my rump and rent this thriller.