Abandoned (2015) Reviews

• Sailing movie about capsized trimaran & crew

  billstrosberg2015-09-16

  Made for TV movie (true story) about a capsized trimaran yacht and how it's crew survived for over 100 days. Well done and reasonably accurate about the sailing offshore in a performance multi-hull. Unlike most disaster / redemption films this one obviously was done by people who knew their topic. I enjoyed this film as unlike most it made me feel they did not dumb down the content assuming everyone watching could not truly understand the situation. As a sailor I found this film quite realistic. I feel the actors did a good job of representing the people in the crisis and they avoided overacting with restraint. I'd heard about this situation and the controversy, so seeing the film added a lot of context to news from the other side of the world.

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• The right side up

  toystein2016-07-13

  This film is based on a true story, which makes it very interesting. It's a survival tale set on top of a giant collection of water we call the ocean. The production is convincing and maintains immersion. I thought the casting was perfect, and the actors do an excellent job conveying their characters. I scored the film high because I felt it presented different aspects of the human spirit which is observed through the characters response and interaction to the situation, themselves and each other. There is no waste or filler in the film, everything is well paced and contributes to the story which is well written. I love stumbling on rare gems like this.

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• Authentic sea story

  redisle2018-10-31

  I watched this with a few sailing friends and all, myself included, were impressed. It is a sea story well told. But let's stand back from the actual real events for a moment. Here's a film that departs from the current trend in several important and positive directions: The story-line is clear. The voices are intelligible (even if the accent is from the far side of the globe for me). The flash-backs are clearly differentiated from the front-line story. There are not 1026 sub-plots. There is no sexual spicing up of the main story. As far as I could tell there was no subliminal advertising. What a pleasant change from the unintelligible mixup-gatherum of multi-plot nonsense that bombards us these days. Now back to the sea. I found the story moved along nicely with variations in mood and happenings. It is rare for a true story to be so well told and to maintain interest. It even had the authenticity of a self-righteous skipper who was lavish in his criticism of his crew. My sailing friends wondered why he had no real crew in the first place. Yes, indeed. Would this appeal to a non-sailing audience? I think it would. There is not exactly an excess of sailing jargon and the four main characters have an adequate range of personalities to maintain interest. Don't expect dramatic back-ground music and people posing on the bow! The story.is a true one and it shows. The film is known by two different titles, "Abandoned" and "Stranded", neither of which really match the story but then almost any other title would give away too much. One thought to finish with: one of the most important things to have when your boat is taking a tumble is a mirror.

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• Everyone said this is a hoax, a scam, fraud - until the NZ cops said "No! It Happened!"

  febru30122016-09-29

  120 days at sea with no food or water. How did these four Blokes from New Zealand survive? That's the entire premise for this movie and relates the true story of these brave hapless souls. Its mesmerizing viewing for the movie audience and I strongly recommend ABANDONED (10 stars) for all ages since there is no nudity or swearing. Why this movie didn't get a bigger audience is beyond me. Perhaps its because no "A" list celebrity starred in it or because it wasn't "shot" in Hollywood by a major studio, I don't know. Its movies like these, that a person discovers on there own, that makes movie watching worthwhile. The script in ABANDONED is good, it has excellent production quality, its well directed and the actors are very credible. SEE THIS MOVIE!

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• Enjoyable True Story

  brutzel2016-08-01

  This is based upon a true story In 1989 four men set sail from Picton, NZ to Tonga in a Trimaran Yacht (google it) when a Rogue Wave capsizes the boat upside down and 119 days later they land on the Great Barrier Island. We have heard of Rogue Agents in spy movies, but a Rogue Wave? Actually, there is such a thing and it can also actually endanger large ships. (You googled it, right?) Of the 4-men on board only one, the owner of the boat, John (Peter Feeney) was a seasoned sailor and everything he owned was tied up into the boat called the Rose Noelle. The others Jim (Dominic Purcell), Rick (Owen Black), and Phil (Greg Johnson) were along for the adventure and had family who learned later there was no hope of a rescue as no search party could locate them. John had no family and the boat was all that he had. Of course, there were bumps along the way and they had to learn to work together to survive. The most important item a licensed marine radio was not on board as John didn't want to endure the expense, and, of course, this set the others against him in a heart beat. The photography was sensational as was the acting by all. Nothing was overdone. They learned how to capture fish and Phil remarked that they had so much food, they should have others over and this brought on a few chuckles. At one point they spied a sailing ship in the distance and tried to send smoke signals, which didn't work. I wondered why they didn't use mirrors glinting off the sun that would be seen even at a great distance. Why indeed? At the end, when they told their story government officials did not believe them nor did the New Zealand populace for the most part. How could they survive 119 days without anyone seeing them? It wasn't possible they said. The government launched an investigation. Over all this was a very enjoyable true story. Watch to the end to see what happened to all of them. John, who lost everything probably wrote the story that became this movie. If there is a lesson to be learned it is: make sure there is a good marine radio on board should you venture out onto the high seas. You just never know. (7/10) Violence: Not really. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Some in the beginning, then it went away.

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