Dead Calm (4/5)
Posted on 29 Mar 2009
Usually a thriller is only as good as its hero is foolish–to the extent your lead makes idiotic choices to empower the bad guy, the more you’re cringing or yelling at the screen. Not so in Dead Calm, a compelling ride that pits wits against madness. Kidman’s character is a refreshingly resourceful and fearless hostage at sea facing a boyishly sinister Billy Zane. I feel compelled to list the extraordinary things that Kidman’s character was capable of, but I will look like a chauvinist prig–ok fine: she knows how to use a gun and steer a sailboat. I am well aware of the latent misogyny I bring to films; really, I’m trying my best to grow up and respect women, but after engrossing myself in decades of male-centered film it is no surprise I have a warped view of the fairer gender. (That comment about the Twilight director was sarcasm, for the record.) We would all certainly be better served with a diverse crop of folks taking the director’s chair and in turn, seeking out the creations of those on the fringes.
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