There are lots of reason to dislike the sea as there seems to be so many ways it can kill you. Between the sea life and all the ways the ocean itself tries to swallow you up, I try my best to stay on dry land. Don’t get me wrong, the ocean is beautiful, but there is always something that lies beneath that beauty. It is that reason as well as sea sickness that has kept me from sailing the seven seas, let alone even going near a boat.
Someone who does not share my fear is a sailor (Joe Azzopardi) as it is his life to be out on the water, but on this day my fear will become his reality. While out fishing he runs into a fog and with it a boat that seems deserted. While investigating, his own boat that was safely secured disappears, leaving him stranded on a strange boat. That though is just the beginning of things that go wrong as the boat seems to be conspiring against him as he tries to find his way home. Soon more strange things are happening as the boat makes him a prisoner as his attempts to get home becomes a battle for his life.
I don’t think I have ever rooted against a boat, but this movie make it very easy to do so. Writer and actor Azzopardi summed it up best as he called the film Christine with a boat, and that might even be underselling it a bit. Man vs, the sea is a battle we have seen before, but man vs. a boat at sea is a battle I didn’t even think I needed in my life, but that changed with one viewing of The Boat. Like Redford in All is Lost, Azzopardi leaves it all out there as he puts on a one man show that will leave you more than impressed. It will also have you gripping your seat and cursing out a boat like you never have before, as it does things that are just not right. What you end up getting is one of those movies you turn out the lights and get rid of the distractions as you want to be fully immersed in what is happening because you won’t be able to take your eyes off the screen. The Boat gives you everything you want and things you didn’t think you needed, but what it gives you the most is a damn good terrifying time at sea all from the safety of a movie theater.
