The Agency's Posts

Treasure trove of George Harrison music unwrapped: Olivia Harrison and a few trusted collaborators are going through the guitarist's massive archive....
Read More>

Cast makes 'Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' shine: A comedy-drama saved by the casting bell,"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"arranges....
Read More>

Greg Allman: A Memoir That Brims With Truth and Hurt: Any one of Gregg Allman’s stories about his life could lure a reader into his new memoir,....
Read More>

THE AVENGERS SMASH BOX OFFICE RECORDS: In a strong start to Hollywood’s summer movie season the superhero team in “Marvel&r
Read More>

Sleep' author lets kids in on fun: A year ago, Adam Mansbach was an award-winning novelist and aspiring screenwriter wrapping....
Read More>

Movie review: In 'The Avengers,' a Marvel-ous team: Joss Whedon pulls off a heroic feat in making the superheroes of 'The Avengers' work together.....
Read More>

Reliving Days (and Lyrics) When No One Got Along: ‘Uprising: Hip Hop and the L.A. Riots,’ on VH1 wenty years ago Los Angeles was....
Read More>

Blunt approach to film? Be real: The star of 'The Five-Year Engagement' and 'Your Sister's Sister' says her recent roles have shown....
Read More>

DARK NIGHT RISES: LONDON — The University of London’s stolidSenate Houseechoes with secrets and....
Read More>

With 'The Pirates! Band of Misfits,' the treasure's in the details: High seas farce plunders laughs from a silly and frantic plot about pirates Maniacally....
Read More>

Johnny Depp on Jonathan Frid: "elegant and magical": LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) -Johnny Depppaid tribute to his "Dark Shadows" predecessor....
Read More>

Steve Harvey's relationship rules come to amusing life in 'Think Like a Man': Relaxed yet lively, the byplay in"Think Like a Man"has some of the spark of....
Read More>

Prime-Time Ratings Bring Speculation of a Shift in Habits: It is the police procedural that has network executives scratching their heads this season: The....
Read More>
Review: 'Big Miracle' exceeds expectations
Posted on: 02/07/12
Share/Save/Bookmark
 

The success of last year's "Dolphin Tale"proved this theorem: Imperiled marine animals + true-ish story + workmanlike sincerity + happy ending = a hit. Will the equation hold for director Ken Kwapis' whale movie"Big Miracle"?

Well. "Big Miracle" is surprisingly good, though the "surprisingly" part betrays certain low-bar expectations going in. So be it. Kwapis ("He's Just Not That Into You,""The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants") exceeds those expectations handily while juggling an ambitious number of characters and agendas — and without demonizing any of them. Not the drilling-rights Big Oil magnate, not the Greenpeacenik, not the fur-hooded jackals of the press, not the whaling Inupiat tribe. And certainly not the three California gray whales trapped under the ice off the coast of the United States' northernmost town, Barrow, Alaska.

This was the Chilean miners' story of its day, a juicy, apolitical suspense drama that caught the sympathies of millions at the fluke end of the Cold War. In 1988, three grays were discovered under the ice-covered Beaufort Sea a few miles from open water. Local news turned into regional news, then national, then global. With the blessing of the Reagan administration, the Alaskan National Guard attempted one manner of ice-breaking rescue; the Soviet Navy helped in the clinch. A couple of guys from Minnesota with a homemade de-icing machine trekked to Barrow to help.

The screenplay by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler takes what it likes from Thomas Rose's nonfiction account "Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World's Greatest Non-Event" and cooks up the rest. (Per Rose's "non-event" subtitle, whales being trapped under ice was nothing new; in this instance, however, the media machine was around to sell it.) The result is more about heart than the human comedy, but the script is cleverly balanced and structured.

The invented triangle at the center of "Big Miracle" featuresDrew Barrymore as a Greenpeace organizer and anti-drilling activist, whose ex-boyfriend (John Krasinski) is a TV news reporter gathering feature fodder in Barrow. He's about to return to Anchorage, harboring hopes of moving to the Lower 48, when the biggest break of his career swims up and blows icy water in his face. "Brokaw's a sucker for these stories!" says one character, predicting a long life for the media coverage of the whales and those aiding their rescue. Kristen Bell is a fish-out-of-water L.A. on-air personality working the story; there's also a blatant and not entirely successful bid to add a native Alaskan preteen (Ahmaogak Sweeney) as demographically appealing narrator.

Much of "Big Miracle" feels calculated, but Kwapis, his writers and the ensemble achieve a considerable amount within the calculation. For one thing, there's film newcomer John Pingayak, a charismatic natural as the leader of the Inupiat whale hunters. For another, there are the whales, and the way Kwapis and his designers chose to depict their plight. This is old-school stuff, a convincing blend of animatronics, robotics and hydraulics, with some digital design work but not enough to cause a computer-generated headache.

One should never expect the whole or even the partial truth in any film based on a true story. This one tells its sort-of-true version of events in a democratic and humane fashion, by way of a rangy, lively group of competing interests. The supporting cast is rich enough to include Tim Blake Nelson (as a wildlife official) and, for a minute or two, Kathy Baker (as the wife of an oilman, played as a crafty glad-hander by Ted Danson). Kwapis shot "Big Miracle" in and around Anchorage, and even with a fair bit of green-screen fakery the film doesn't look and feel as if made on laptops in California. Also there's no attempt to humanize or goo-goo-eyes the whales themselves.

Good call.

mjphillips@tribune.com

COMMENTS
Be the first to post a comment!


Post A Comment:




  • It's 2020! Start booking roles in commercials, fashion, films, theater and more with The Agency Online!

  • NEW WORKSHOP with Barbara Barna & Sean De Simone!

    Hi Everyone and Happy Summer! Sean at Sean De Simone casting and Barbara Barna are teaming up for a super informative and fun Hosting for Home Shopping workshop. A great opportunity for established or experienced TV Hosts and Experts interested in learning how to get noticed and how to get in....
  • MASTERCLASS W. Robin Carus & David John Madore

    A Special Offer for the Agency Community, from one of our favorite NYC Casting Directors! EMAIL FacetheMusicWithUs@gmail.com Or Eventbrite To Sign Up! Class Size is Limited.
  • Don't Fall Into The Comparison Trap

    Hi Everyone! As the second installment in an ongoing series of features by the Agency's amazing community, here's some sage advice from our own Regina Rockensies; a humble (& awesome)veteran we've had the pleasure of working with for a long time. Have an excellent week! : ) - The Agency....
  • One Model's Agreement

    Hi Everyone! As the first piece in an ongoing series of original articles by the Agency community, here's a short reflection on some of the values of professional acting & modeling that we can all keep in mind for our next casting. Good luck on your castings &shoots this week! : ) -....




 
home       castings&news       privacy policy       terms and conditions      contact us      browser tips
Official PayPal Seal