Skip to content
All Is Lost proves that ‘life on the ocean wave’ isn’t just a jaunty song, it’s a fact for the main character in this film, played by Robert Redford, whose character doesn’t have a name other than ‘Our Man’ and who we meet, narrating his imminent demise as he has barely any food left.
The film then goes back to 8 days earlier when we see what caused this – a huge shipping container, from out of nowhere, has struck his boat and is causing water to gush inside, all over his electronic equipment, so that will present its own problems.
Our Man, is basically, up shit creek… but for now, he still has a paddle.
What follows with him on his boat, the Virginia Jean, is his battle when everything that can go wrong does go wrong as well as the exhausting tasks of repairing the boat while pumping out the water, and just the sheer effort to keep going under such circumstances.
Those involved with the special effects have done a perfect job making the whole experience seem very realistic, especially when it comes to him simply being in the middle of the Indian Ocean, as well as the times he’s in the boat and at the mercy of the destruction that’s happened to it.
There’s one or two moments where things do tend to drag a little, but for the most part it keeps the pace going well, and it’s also a rare film which starts at the right point and ends at the right point, not tacking on superfluous waffle at either end like so many Hollywood films do these days.
You could ask why a man of 77 is out there alone at sea, but clearly this is a pet project for Redford and he has a love of all things nautical, something of which I know very little about but this also adds to how it makes for intriguing viewing as I’m learning along the way. Hence, when the film opens by stating he is “1700 Nautical Miles from the Sumatra Straits”, I had no idea what these words mean, but later on it all became be clear.
The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 theatrical ratio and is crisp and sharp, looking at its best when showing off stunning views of the sea, including beautifully-shot scenes such as when a shoal of fish are swimming along with him. And you can also see just how chiseled his face looks, despite his eyes looking considerably younger 😉
For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 50″ Plasma screen with a Samsung BDP1500 player.
Audio-wise, this is mostly an ambience-led piece as there’s only one character onscreen and precious little dialogue, but the audio is clear and does everything it needs to without a hitch.
The extras are as follows, but there’s precious little to get excited about:
- All Is Lost: The Story (3:45): A very brief summary of the basics, with chat from Redford and key
crew members. - The Actor: Robert Redford (4:26): A similarly short piece.
- The Filmmaker: J.C. Chandor (3:18): And you get the idea.
- Audio Descriptive Track: Does what it says on the tin.
There are subtitles in oodles of languages (see below) but unfortunately a low 12 chapters, which a lot of distributors tend to go with.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
8 10 8 2 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Director: JC Chandor
Producers: Neal Dodson, Anna Gerb, Justin Nappi and Teddy Schwarzman
Screenplay: JC Chandor
Music: Tristin Norwell
Cast:
Our Man: Robert Redford
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 106 minutes
Studio: Universal Pictures
Cat.no.: 8296925
Year: 2013
Released: April 28th 2014
Chapters: 20
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Latin American Spanish
Subtitles: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (ARRIRAW (2.8K))
Disc Format: BD50
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.