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Ghost Ship
When a pilot hires a salvage team to investigate a mysterious vessel he has spotted floating adrift off the coast of Alaska, they discover the remains of the Antonia Graza. The ship, lost at sea more than 40 years ago, is quite the find. The salvage rights alone could be worth a fortune and things get even better when they discover a cache of gold inside. However, as they prepare to tow the ship back in, the crew discovers that its home to something more deadly and horrific than anything they've encountered in all their years at sea.
Ghost Ship, released in 2002, is one of those movies that starts off with a bang and then slowly fizzles out as it moves on. The trouble with putting all your eggs into one basket with your opening sequence is that people will undoubtedly expect the rest of the film to follow suit. When it doesn’t do that, they’ll feel disappointed and will probably not look back at it fondly. It’s too bad that Ghost Ship falls into that category, because it isn’t all about the opening, although it’s admittedly pretty damn awesome. Instead, what the film provides is an ample amount of supernatural horror, some decent scares, a cohesive story, good performances from a stellar cast and a nice sense of dread. Doesn’t that sound like a film that’s a lot more than just one three-minute introduction? Of course it does, and if you’re one of those people that can keep your expectations lowered even after they’re shot into the stratosphere, you may just find Ghost Ship will float your boat.
"Now that's one hell of a ship...a GHOST ship that is!"
Directed by Steve Beck (also did the previously reviewed Thir13en Ghosts) and written by Mark Hanlon and John Pogue (U.S. Marshalls, The Skulls, Quarantine 2: Terminal), the film seems to be loosely based on one from 1980 called Death Ship. Aside from sharing a similar title (and poster for that matter), the idea of people boarding a ship that has been used for somewhat nefarious purposes is also the same. However, the similarities pretty much end there, and at the end of the day Ghost Ship becomes a lot more interesting than the one that came before it. Beck’s direction isn’t exactly stellar here, it’s more of a paint-by-numbers style, but it works for this particular film just fine. He does manage to come up with some nifty camera angles once on board the ship itself and also paces the film properly enough to create tension when the script appears to be lacking any. As for that script, there are definitely some flaws in it, particularly with the way certain characters are written and the absurd ending. Other than that, it’s serviceable enough and does create some memorable moments so it can be considered better than average but not much more than that.
"They don't stand a GHOST of a chance...get it?"
As far as the cast goes, Ghost Ship is rocking, with a bunch of recognizable names and faces and some good performances throughout. Unfortunately, the top-billed Gabriel Byrne (Usual Suspects) may actually be the worst actor in the movie, as he appears to just be going through the motions for the paycheck. Thankfully he’s not on-screen that much and so we don’t have to suffer through quite possibly his worst performance ever. On the other hand, Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) is excellent as Epps, the co-captain of the salvage team. She’s not only a strong female lead, she also proves to be the most intelligent and adept member of her entire ship, seeing as she’s the only one who survives and all. Whoops, was that a spoiler? Duh, not if you’ve been watching horror movies over the years it isn’t. Yep, she’s the “final girl†so to speak, but she’s a damn good one to be sure. Other cast members who are strong in supporting roles include Ron Eldard (Super 8), Karl Urban (Dredd), Alex Dimitriades (Young Lions), a young Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Isiah Washington (Grey’s Anatomy) and Desmond Harrington (Dexter). In fact, Harrington is really good here as the wild-card non crew-member who may or may not have a secret to hide. It’s a far cry from his tepid work as Quinn on Dexter, that’s for damn sure.
"No GHOSTS were harmed during filming."
As I mentioned earlier, Ghost Ship is rather infamous for its opening sequence and for the sake of those who haven’t seen the film, that’s as far as I’m going to go. Suffice to say, those that have seen it know exactly what I’m talking about and exactly why it’s so freaking awesome! Outside of that, I was actually even more impressed with the film once they got onto the ship itself. The set design and art direction of the ship is unbelievably well done and it really becomes another strong supporting character in the film. You just get the feeling that there’s something ominous around every corner and in every nook and cranny of the gigantic vessel, and most often there actually is! Credit must be given to Graham Walker (current production designer on The Walking Dead) and art director Richard Hobbs (Dark City, The Pacific) for their impeccable work here. Once the events that previously occurred on the ship begin to unfold in front of our eyes (in a really cool flashback I might add), things start to take a bit of a turn for the worse. It’s almost as if the writers really didn’t know how to finish the movie that they’d started and instead decided to tack on an odd and totally unbelievable (not to mention cheesy) ending. However, the last 12 minutes of the movie certainly don’t diminish the first 80, where there’s a lot of good to be had. Ghost Ship won’t ever be considered a classic, but as a nice distraction on a rainy Sunday, you could sure do a hell of a lot worse. Just don’t ever watch it at sea; you’ve been warned. 6/10.
"Tomorrow....this car is a real killer."
