MOVIE - GHOST SHIP - Review Rating $$$$$ (OUT OF 10)
STARRING - JULIANNA MARGUILES, RON ELDARD, DESMOND HARRINGTON, ISAIAH WASHINGTON, GABRIEL BYRNE, ALEX DIMITRIADES, KARL URBAN & EMILY BROWNING.
A marine salvage crew gets lured into attempting to recover a long lost ocean liner that has recently been spotted floating off the coast of Alaska.
Ghost Ship is a rather ordinary, highly conventional and predictable "scary" movie. BOO! Did that scare you? If it didn't then Ghost Ship won't scare you either. The scary moments, in Ghost Ship, are so telegraphed that only the truly meek would be frightened.
The scariness factor is further reduced by the fact that the filmmakers forget that the setting is the North Pacific / Bearing Sea. Somehow, without heat, the actors are able to stay overnight on the Ghost Ship in t-shirts. Even falling overboard doesn't expose the cast members to the potential of succumbing to hypothermia. Believability is in the details. The fact that the filmmaker's forgot it gets cold near the Arctic Circle epitomizes what's wrong with Ghost Ship.
There are a few reasons to stick around to the end of this movie. While you won't be surprised by the ending the story is just interesting enough that you will want to hear the full explanation. As with the rest of the movie you'll more than likely be disappointed when you do hear it. There are also one or two imaginative and mildly gross methods of killing off of the cast.
The cast, a collection of veteran actors, do their best to right this ship but are limited by the material they have to work with. Julie Margulies gets top billing. From a career perspective, Ghost Ship is a rubber dingy, compared to the luxury liner world of E.R. Hopefully her upcoming project, Evelyn, is more rewarding for all concerned.
Ghost Ship is one scary movie that in all likelihood won't replicate itself in numerous sequels. For that we can be thank-you. If you see Ghost Ship, a film that barely stays afloat, rent it.
Alternative Reviews:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-ghost25f.html
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/GhostShip-1117263/
MY TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2002 LIST
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2003
David Schwartz.
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