All Is Lost [2013] ★★½

Robert Redford is alone on a sailboat. The boat is sinking. Robert is about to die, hence the title of the movie “All Is Lost”. I’m not spoiling anything here since the main character leaves a farewell message as soon as the movie opens. We learn that the boat has been badly damaged, 17 000 miles from land, without a working radio. What follows is a man’s struggle for survival. Since that man is veteran actor Robert Redford, we find ourselves rooting for him, even though we basically know nothing about him. Of course, the whole movie would collapse right from the beginning if that one guy wasn’t played by one hell of an actor. And Redford does his best, at least for a while. But after that I became impatient. I knew where the story was headed, yet writer-director J.C. Chandor lingered on every plot point, long after emptying his bag of tricks. In spite of its many assets, I can only say that at the end I felt nothing.

Rating: 2.5/4