In my review of the new “once-in-a-generation outbreak of tornadoes” movie Twisters, I lamented that it entirely neglects to mention that climate change might be the villain behind the increasingly dangerous weather it depicts, and that human-driven global warming might be the antagonist to its scientists trying to deal with said weather.
I also mentioned that, like its 1996 progenitor movie Twister, 2000’s The Perfect Storm is also about global warming in a way that is much more obvious now than it might have been almost a quarter of a century ago. I can’t recall if I saw a global-warming motif in either Twister or The Perfect Storm back in the day, but it’s so obvious now, particularly with Storm, which is about not only an unprecedented confluence of late-season Atlantic storms but also about how the North Atlantic has been overfished to such a degree that it pushes desperate working-class fisherman (George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, most prominently, in their early big-screen careers) to sail so much farther from home than is considered safe in search of a lucrative catch.
This is a terrific drama, from director Wolfgang Petersen, with a wonderful cast — which also includes absolute goddesses Diane Lane and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, plus John C. Reilly, John Hawkes, William Fichtner, Karen Allen, and Cherry Jones — but the overwhelming thing I am left with today, when I watch this movie again, is: Wow. The warnings were there, and we ignored them.
US: stream on Paramount+ (via Prime); rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
UK: rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
See The Perfect Storm at Letterboxd for more viewing options, including in all other global regions.
