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The Life Aquatic
With Steve Zissou
Release Date: December 10,
2004 (NY, LA; wide release: December 25)
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Director: Wes Anderson
Screenwriter: Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach
Starring: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica
Huston, Willem Dafoe, Robyn Cohen, Bud Cort, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon, Noah
Taylor, Wallace Wolodarsky
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: R (for language, some drug use, violence and partial nudity)
Official Website:
LifeAquatic.com
DVD/VHS:
DVD (Special Edition Two-Disc Set) |
DVD
Plot Summary: Internationally famous
oceanographer Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) and his crew -- Team Zissou -- set sail
on an expedition to hunt down the mysterious, elusive, possibly non-existant
Jaguar Shark that killed Zissou's partner during the documentary filming of
their latest adventure. They are joined on their voyage by a young airline
co-pilot who may or may not be Zissou's son (Owen Wilson), a beautiful
journalist (Cate Blanchett) assigned to write a profile of Zissou, and Zissou's
estranged wife and co-producer, Eleanor (Anjelica Huston). They face
overwhelming complications including pirates, kidnapping, and bankruptcy.
Oscar-nominated writer/director Wes Anderson ("Rushmore," "The Royal Tenenbaums")
has assembled an all-star cast that also includes Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum,
Michael Gambon, Noah Taylor, and Bud Cort in this wildly original
adventure-comedy.
Reviewed by Peter
Veugelaers © 2005
- Television is not that bad, ah?
My expectations for Life Aquatic with Steve
Zissou anticipated what the trailer hinted at: a revenge movie against a
shark. That is a fresh and smart idea and sounds creatively zany. Just that it
does not have enough going for it: the trailer is better than the movie. Life
Aquatic is the big yawn of 2004, a slow, dead fish in need of resuscitation.
Life Aquatic seems to be satirical of Jacques
Cousteau’s undersea explorations which were made into documentaries during
the 50s until the 80s. If satire, it makes its point at the end with
conservational aplomb, otherwise the comparisons are restricted to an
undersea explorer who makes documentaries: Bill Murray plays the title
character, Steve Zissou, who sees his best friend die on an expedition and
vows to avenge the shark that did it (although others are not so sure it was
a shark). He and his team will film his journey of vengeance while seeking
funding for the project (the irrepressible Michael Gambon of TV’s The
Singing Detective gets a small part in a Hollywood movie as the
producer).
More a vehicle for Bill Murray’s talents he plays the
womanising, self doubting but arrogant, joint smoking explorer who hasn’t had a
hit documentary for nearly a decade. Murray gets the best character and as usual
he is dead pan but to the point that the audience won’t care.
Director Wes Anderson (who made the laugh-out-loud The
Royal Tenenbaums) mostly misfires with the jokes that often get lost in a
film making style awry with some predictability and disjointedness. Scenes are
long winded and drawn out, and especially talky – the movie particularly relies
on the uneven success of its dry and sardonic humour. Punch lines of the jokes
are so melancholic that the response is less ha, ha, but more so what? The best
laugh is the loving parody of Harry Belafonte, and Murray gets in a few good
one-liners.
Out of place is Cate Blanchett, who plays a reporter
investigating the documentary and who is pregnant and makes friends with
Zissou’s long lost son, played surly by Owen Wilson (there is a very predictable
outcome to the father-son relationship; parody or not, it does not work). She
appears unsure and uncertain, looking like she is half way between serious
dramatic intensity, like her The Aviator and Elizabeth work, and
pregnant with bubbling over with a brook of the funnies, as if she is supposed
to be funny but falls short of being that. Blanchett is in limbo here, which
isn’t necessarily a reflection of her acting but is more the tone of the whole
movie: water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. For those that like
their humour dry and their movies slow they won’t mind.
We would love to know what you think, sound off on the
movie message boards and let us know how you liked the movie! |
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Trailer:
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Internet Trailer:
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TV Spot - 'Revenge':
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Clip 1 - 'The Jaguar Shark':
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Clip 2 - 'Meet Ned Plimpton - Part 1':
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Clip 3 - 'Meet Ned Plimpton - Part 2':
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Clip 4 - 'Renowned Scientist':
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Clip 5 - 'Mutiny on the Belafonte':
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Clip 6 - 'Good Luck Stevezy':
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Clip 7 - 'B-Squad Leader':
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Exclusive Father and Son Featurette:
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