Review: 'The Impossible' starring Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor

It's unfortunate that the films of Roland Emmerich have colored our view of the "natural disaster movie", for his absurd, planet-destroying spectacles have robbed the genre of the humanity needed to make them effective. To be fair, Emmerich's not totally to blame, he's just a part of the problem, more intent on bigger and flashier devastation than chronicling the real human costs.  The Impossible is the antithesis of those films in just about every respect, a deeply personal human drama about a family ripped asunder by real life tragedy, the 2004 Tsunami that ravaged Thailand and killed thousand. The sophomore effort by The Orphanage director, Juan Antonio Bayona, it's a superbly shot and brutally intense weeper that manages to keep the emotional manipulation at bay until the final moments.

There's good reason why many were hailing Bayona's direction on this film as worthy of Oscar consideration. His ability to transition from a smallish horror to something of this grand a scale is impressive, and you'll see no better example of his talents than during the tsunami's overpowering assault. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor are Maria and Henry Bennett, a well-to-do couple who take their three boys on a vacation to Thailand. We see fairly early on that their sons are all vastly different and take after their parents in different ways. Lucas(Tom Holland) is the oldest and the strongest, stubborn and defiant in ways he perceives his mother isn't. We learn just enough about them to know everything isn't perfect, but something so terrible is about to happen that will put all of that into stunning perspective.

Trying to figure out how Bayona depicts the annihilating effects of those first crashing waves. One moment all is quiet, and the next a surge of water rages down upon the resort as if sent from the heavens above. It's a true marvel of filmmaking that doesn't seem possible for someone of his relative inexperience. We saw the same terrible event depicted a couple of years ago in Clint Eastwood's Hereafter, and while that was impressive it has nothing on what Bayona has accomplished. The immediacy and intimacy of the assault is deeply unsettling, as we see people washed away in the blink of an eye and tossed around like debris beneath the water's surface. Maria is especially battered and beaten, slammed against tree edges and beaten against the walls. If this were an Emmerich film he'd stop and let us revel in the destruction a little, to make an exhibition of it all. The only awe we feel watching this unfold is that anyone could possibly survive it.  It's a physically draining experience, one that isn't going to let up any time soon

The Bennett's do survive, albeit barely, and split up by untold distance. Maria and Lucas barely find one another, mere moments before a second wave hits. Bayona doesn't hold back in detailing the gruesome toll taken on the survivors, gashing wounds with blood flowing freely are a regular uncomfortable sight. We follow Maria and Lucas for the bulk of the film, as they seek desperate shelter amongst the trees and scrape by in any way they can in hopes of finding the rest of their family. Watts effectively commands the screen, expressing her pain and and anguish on multiple levels. But it's the inner strength she imbues Maria with as she tries to remain vigilant for the well-being of her son, that makes this one of her finest performances of her honored career.  Tom Holland is also a true find, holding his own opposite Watts in a way few child actors could hope to.

We eventually do discover what happened to Henry and the other boys, but it's upon this revelation that the film begins to wander off course. It's not due to McGregor, who only gets one great moment to shine and he takes full advantage. Up to a certain point, we've seen little in the expression of grief from either of the two parents, but in one heartbreaking moment Henry lets everything he's been keeping inside burst forth. Amidst all the anguish there are little moments of people helping one another that keep the mood from becoming too heavy.

But the script by Sergio Sanchez struggles to make Henry's story as compelling as Maria's. There's really not that much to do once the tsunami is over, and so the rest of the story is just one long hand-wringing exercise. Because the family can't reunite too soon, we see ridiculous obstacles, all of the man-made, set in their path, and soon it starts to get a little silly. Verging on sitcom theatrics, we see the Bennett's repeatedly just missing one another as they frantically search through a crowded hospital. All of the real and impactful drama we'd been privy to up to that point is washed away by lame contrivance. Even if this is a true story, based on the real trials faced by a Spanish family, there needed to be some creative license taken to punch up the final act and keep it on the same visceral level as the rest of the film.

We already know Watts is fantastic, so the real breakout here is Bayona, who has catapulted himself into the upper tier of visual masters. It'll be interesting to see just where he goes next, and if he decides to again venture into a wildly different genre. Whatever he decides, his is a career worth paying attention to.