To some extent, you know what you’re likely to get in a survival thriller. With its structure and plot mechanics, Adrift will not be remembered for deviating far from genre expectations, but while some of its familiar elements hold it back, others make it work. Based on a true story, Adrift tells the tale of Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley) and Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin), who set sail from Tahiti in 1983 on a 6,500km voyage to San Diego, and were left stranded on the open ocean after a vicious storm damaged their vessel.
The film, which was directed by Balthasar Kormákur (Everest), starts strongly, throwing the audience into the immediate panic of the aftermath of the storm. It also establishes the central visual motif of the film, which is Shailene Woodley struggling to survive on a stricken craft in the middle of the ocean, with nothing but horizon on all sides. This is a familiar cinematic setting, but one Kormákur’s film commits to with impressive diligence: vast swathes of the film were shot miles away from land, without visual effects, and the impression of being trapped on the vast expanse of the ocean is convincingly done. Kormákur and his cinematographer Robert Richardson also find inventive ways to vary their shots, ensuring the sections on the boat don’t begin to feel samey.
Where the film is less inventive is in the establishment of the burgeoning relationship between its two central characters, which, as with many films of this kind, is told primarily in flashbacks woven into the main thrust of the narrative. The film tries to develop a chemistry between its leads, and there are flashes of this in their interactions, but the dialogue and music choices tend towards the cheesy, and scenarios are perfunctorily staged. Enough of the first act is dedicated to these flashbacks that the film starts to, pun intended, drift, and loses the thrust of the opening. Having Woodley’s character reference the cheesiness was a misstep: it neither reduces its effect or serves as a playful bit of self awareness.
That said, the film thankfully regains its sea legs whenever we move back out onto the water. Shailene Woodley is the heart of the film, appearing in pretty much every scene, and she gives a likeable, believable performance. There isn’t much grandstanding in here, which I appreciated, and generally Woodley’s performance can be relied upon to make the stodgier scenes watchable.
Adrift is at its most confident putting Woodley’s character up against the odds, and the final stretch of the film is compelling enough to tug at the heart strings where necessa ry. Yes, some of the structural elements are familiar, and it probably won’t surprise you too often, but it’s a well put together piece of drama that tells a story worth telling.