(This review may contain spoilers).
When I saw this movie advertised, I was immediately intrigued by it and was quite happy when I realised that the secret unlimited showing at my cinema was in fact this movie.
It was interesting to see that this film was told as a story of a survivor. I liked the opportunity to learn about Owen through his interactions with his wife and it was good to see that he was a fairly developed character… and although there was rivalry between him and the Captain, I liked that it didn’t really affect how he interacted with the other sailors.
There were some really nice atmospheric scenes in this movie. I didn’t like the whales being hunted for their oil… but I’m aware there was a whole job about it and I felt the film did a good job of portraying that.
I would have liked to be able to get to know some of the more minor characters. Even towards the end, quite a few of them didn’t seem to have their own personalities, so I couldn’t care about them as much as the main characters.
There were a lot of good, intense moments in this movie. Even though a lot of the time periods were glossed over, I still found it fairly easy to follow and the feel of the movie matched the progression of the storyline… to the point where many of the characters were virtually unrecognisable.
Even though the beginning of the movie made it quite clear how it would end, I still found myself drawn into the storyline and it kept me watching till the end.
I felt the fact that both Chase and Pollard were good men, despite the fact that they really disliked each other. It was also good to see the crew trying to survive on a deserted island… really just trying to survive in general. I recognised a couple of the actors in the movie, but the characters who I could empathise with were well-portrayed and had a lot of depth to them.
I’m not sure I’d watch this movie again… at least not any time soon… but it was good to watch the first time through.
Ink of Blood 