Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Adrift Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 8, 2018

It must be one of the most hopeless feelings in the world: adrift in the middle of the ocean, supplies dwindling, food scarce, communications down, the ship not exactly seaworthy after powering through a category five hurricane, and the only hope for survival a dream of someday beating the odds and drifting to land. That was the reality for more than a month of Tami Oldham's life, and it is on her incredible true story that Adrift is based. Director Baltasar Kormákur, who previously helmed the man-versus-nature true story Everest, crafts a touching and engrossing story of love, tragedy, and survival on the seas, told in a manner that juxtaposes the burgeoning romance and the frightening fight to survive in an endless, watery expanse.

Tami (Shailene Woodley) is an American seafaring vagabond, making her way around the world, doing any odd job she can find to take her to the next stop. On one seemingly random stop, she meets Richard (Sam Claflin), a handsome Englishman. The two quickly fall in love and agree to be married. They plan to sail around the world in loving bliss, but their plans are changed when two of Richard’s friends approach the couple and ask that they sail their ship to San Diego for them, offering $10,000 and a couple of plane tickets for the return trip to Tahiti. It’s not only an opportunity to make some money but to spend quality alone time together, and Richard and Tami happily agree to make the trip. But en route, the ship is severely damaged when Tami and Richard realize they have no choice but to sail through the extremely powerful Pacific Hurricane, Raymond. With the boat in tatters; Tami wounded; Richard barely alive with severe wounds to his legs, ribs, and head; supplies dwindling; and the ship seemingly well outside of any typically busy shipping or sailing lanes; Tami finds herself with no choice but to try and beat the odds by navigating a decrepit boat to Hawaii and surviving the unsurvivable sea.

The film is compelling on both fronts, both as it explores the formative days and weeks and months in Tami’s and Richard’s courtship and, later, her efforts to get the boat on a course that will take them to Hawaii, dealing with all of the nautical difficulties of old-fashioned navigation with a sextant, the sun and the stars, a map, and hand-written logs, all the while the boat’s lower half is half flooded and Richard lies immobilized on the boat’s aft position. As their relationship matures in the flashbacks, Tami on the boat begins to break under the pressure and mounting hopelessness, not to mention the lack of food and fresh water and the excess of sun and heat. Some of her problems are compounded by being a vegetarian, and she must decide whether she will break her moral code and kill and eat an innocent creature to sustain her ever-dwindling energy resources.

The film effectively uses the ocean's expanse as well as the beating sun and the mounting emotional despair that translates from screen to audience as effective antagonists. Pacing is one the film's strong points. Time is effectively conveyed not simply by way of text that reveals how many days Tami and Richard have been adrift at sea, but in the way their bodies begin to decay under the heat, dwindle from the lack of food, and suffer from other, inescapable physical and especially emotional stresses. Shailene Woodley delivers a captivating, sincere performance that hits a broad collection of physical demands and emotional responses to her situation with intimate nuance. The performance is only elevated as the film approaches and reaches its climax and reveals a truth that redefines her journey seemingly to nowhere but death. As the makeup department frighteningly conveys the physical stresses and deteriorations on her body, she does the same for her mind and soul in a wonderful bit of work that's the most important component in the film.

Adrift Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Adrift's 1080p transfer sails high. It's bright and clear and the presentation is very cinematic. As with many new releases, it stretches the 1080p format to its limits, with rock-solid, pinpoint detailing the norm, especially considering basic skin textures and beyond: gory wounds, signs of sun damage and dehydration, and dried blood. Clothing fabrics and seams enjoy tactile complexity and larger environmental points of interest, such as wooden docks, crowded Tahitian marketplaces, and odds and ends in and around a boat, all of which reveal an endless supply of well defined imagery. Colors are terrific. Bright blue waters are the standout, as are blue skies, but the water is certainly the most eye-catching component of the entire image, absolutely sparkling and bright in sunshine. Nighttime and low light black levels impress and skin tones appear accurate, even as the characters begin to suffer from dehydration and exposure. A little underwater banding is visible in a few places but this is otherwise a pristine, beautiful Blu-ray image.

Adrift Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Adrift's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack roars. The film begins with some very impressive creaks as the battered vessel, half filled with sea water, struggles to maintain its equilibrium and Tami fights through to find anything that might help her in the storm's immediate aftermath. The additional rear channels, courtesy of the 7.1 configuration, do wonders to deliver fuller immersion and purposefully encircle the listener into the frighteningly wet environment. Later in the film, as the storm rages in flashback, intense waves crash and spill through every speaker. The subwoofer kicks in with prominent heft to better define the terror. Wind gusts, Richard's and Tami's screams, rain spiking down: it's a frighteningly hellish barrage and a reference moment for sheer power and intensity of cinema sound. There is some good environmental din in densely populated outdoor shops in chapter seven while less intense, but still prominent, weather effects soak the stage elsewhere. Music is spacious and clear and dialogue is true and grounded in the front-center channel. This track is a great example of extremes, ranging from whisper-quiet sweet nothings to some of the most intensive storm effects ever heard in a movie soundtrack.

Adrift Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Adrift contains several special features, including a commentary track and deleted scenes. A DVD copy of the film and an iTunes digital copy code are included with purchase. The release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Includes Gift (1:22) and Half Way (1:11).
• Survival at Sea (1080p, 2:21): A discussion of the characters' relationship and Tami's fight to survive on the sea.
• Braving the Elements (1080p, 2:24): Shooting on the open water.
• Journey (1080p, 2:02): A montage of some of the movie's most dangerous moments.
• Trailer #1 (1080p, 2:32).
• Trailer #2 (1080p, 2:34).
• Audio Commentary: With Director Baltasar Kormákur and Actress Shailene Woodley.

Adrift Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Adrift is a wonderful film of the fight for survival against nature. Kormákur previously and effectively tackled the subject with the doomed expedition to the top of Mount Everest and he does so here on an even more personal level that digs even deeper into the psychology of despair and hopelessness against an unforgiving example of nature's wrath which just so happens to juxtapose with its beauty and majesty. The film is the beneficiary of a terrific lead performance that conveys the physical and emotional stresses and strains with frightening depth. Universal's Blu-ray is about as good as the movie. Video and audio are pristine and the release includes a healthy allotment of extra content. Very highly recommended.