Word: clooneys
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...PERFECT STORM Directed by Wolfgang Peterson Starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg JUNE...
...Perfect Storm, Peterson's entry in to this year's derby, is building up buzz as the film to beat. His films always have a balance of compelling drama and the requisite action; Air Force One and In the Line of Fire both were international box-office smashes. Here, Clooney and Walhberg (it's two of the Three Kings) star in the adaptation of the best selling book about a monster storm that attacks a boat of hapless fishermen. It's Twister plus Jaws-the giant shark. Besides its disaster movie attraction, The Perfect Storm has several things going...
...emotion will have to be earned without strings or drums. There are some safeguards. The war-room set features a giant electronic map, synched to the dialogue. "We have a guy with a keyboard ready, so if an actor misses a line, he can instantly update the map," Clooney says...
Borrowing a little excitement is fine, and there's something sweet in Clooney's homage to TV's past. But there's an apologetic ring to the project too; it seems to kowtow to the Edenic myth that since the 1950s, TV has charted a direct course to hell. Many of the decisions--from shooting in black and white to having Walter Cronkite introduce the production--are like penance for the past. And no such apologies are necessary. Playhouse 90 was a wonderful program, but there's a difference between creating TV and broadcasting theater, between using the medium...
None of which is to say Fail Safe can't rivet viewers, using one advantage of TV: as Clooney says, "Films can't go live." It's certainly more gutsy than the live ER of 1997, whose conceit--a news crew filming in the hospital--excused gaffes as "nerves" on the part of characters. If Fail Safe succeeds, Clooney hopes to do a live A Patch of Blue starring Cheadle. If it bombs (groan), the world will survive. But for live TV, there may be fallout indeed...