The Impossible (2012)
Directed by J. A. Bayona
In December 2004, close-knit family Maria, Henry and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand. But the day after Christmas, the idyllic holiday turns into an incomprehensible nightmare when a terrifying roar rises from the depths of the sea, followed by a wall of black water that devours everything in its path. Though Maria and her family face their darkest hour, unexpected displays of kindness and courage ameliorate their terror.
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What critics compared The Impossible to
As with The Impossible, he cannily dramatizes the raw destructive power of the natural world—there’s occasionally a mythic quality to the mixture of terror and awe that goes on at the island.
For the sequel, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” the direction has become exponentially better, thanks to some much-needed fresh blood, director J.A. Bayona (“The Impossible”), and there are times when the joy ride absolutely soars.
Directed by J.A. Bayona (A Monster Calls, The Impossible), this second installment in the rebooted franchise even includes a slow shot of her black combat boot exiting a plane, as if to confirm to viewers: "You see?
Now in 2018, J. A. Bayona (director of The Orphanage, The Impossible and the heartbreaking A Monster Calls) kills the park for good in the middle chapter of this new trilogy.
It often seems like he’s trying to stuff elements of his three previous features into a single blockbuster jolt: There’s the creaky house of his masterful horror movie “The Orphanage,” the child-versus-beast dynamic of “A Monster Calls,” and the apocalyptic natural chaos of his tsunami survival story “The Impossible,” all packed with all the organizing principles of a sandbag.
And Bayona, who gave us the devastating tsunami sequence from 2012’s The Impossible, definitely knows how to bring it.
Not that it will come as much of a surprise to anyone with a degree in MCU studies that “Civil War’s” roster of fighters includes the first big-screen incarnation of T’Challa/Black Panther (a striking Chadwick Boseman), as well as the latest incarnation of Spider-Man, with the plucky young British actor Tom Holland (“The Impossible,” “In the Heart of the Sea”) donning the nervous, nerdy mien of Peter Parker to terrifically scene-stealing effect.
Tom Holland ( The Impossible ) makes a stunning debut as the new Spider-Man.
Tom Holland, who did such amazing work in The Impossible, only has a few scenes here but he makes the most of his screen time by reminding viewers of this franchise’s continued excitement.
Skepticism over a third actor in the span of nine years portraying a new incarnation of Peter Parker/Spider-Man (following Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield) vanishes in an instant as the immensely likable, youthful, genuine Tom Holland (2012's " The Impossible ") walks onto the screen; he is fantastic, and so is Marisa Tomei (2015's " Love the Coopers ") in her brief appearance as Aunt May.
Wanda's breakout begins a series of apologies made from one Avenger to another as sides are drawn, Lieutenant James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) standing with Stark, who also recruits the fledgling Spider-Man (Tom Holland, "The Impossible," breathing new, golly-gee-whiz life into the character) much to the delight of Peter's besotted aunt (Marisa Tomei).
While The Impossible (2012) proved that an up-close spin on the genre can flay the emotions, Peyton’s dutiful carnival of pixel-packing destruction is so dutiful that even a cruise-liner dive-bombing San Francisco draws little but been-there/done-the-trailer yawns.
If you want a more realistic family struggle during disaster, check into the far superior Naomi Watts movie “The Impossible.”
Peyton and Cuse’s film is more in the realm of The Impossible and The Day After Tomorrow , where a tiny family group is all that matters, and the tens of thousands of lives lost outside that group are just warning shots over the protagonists’ bow.
This isn’t “The Impossible,” the drama, not spectacle, about 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
“San Andreas” is like some kind of video game version of “The Impossible,” at times, with viewers assaulted by waves of action and sonic booms.
An Afghanistan war veteran, he can drive any vehicle and does, including a chopper, a 4x4, a plane, and a boat, piloting the last into and over a tsunami wave in a move that makes you think he might have been helpful in The Perfect Storm or maybe The Impossible.
Filmmaker J.A. Bayona is one of the great talents in the business (his previous efforts are the horror picture “The Orphanage” and the tsunami drama “The Impossible”) precisely because of his gift for melding spectacle with emotional content into the fabrics of his movies.
The film by director J.A. Bayona (The Impossible) is psychologically astute and emotionally rich, but it makes everything too clear and doesn’t allow for any of the real mysteries of life and death to shine through.
His previous films -- The Orphanage and The Impossible -- were brilliant genre exercises that surprised with the staggering amount of heart and wisdom that could be found beneath the surface of his story.
A family drama rich in fantastical metaphor, Patrick Ness' lyrical, heartrending 2011 bestseller "A Monster Calls" (based on an idea by the late Siobhan Dowd) receives an equally sensitive filmic treatment from director J.A. Bayona (2012's " The Impossible ").
Director J.A. Bayona follows drawing an impressive turn from Tom Holland in The Impossible by finding another gifted young actor to take on some seriously heavy emoting.
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Like such illustrious drivel as “The Impossible” and “The Wave,” both dealing with tsunamis, director Ric Roman Waugh’s death-by-comet yarn centers on an upper-middle class clan of Caucasians fully believing their survival takes precedence over all else.
The only film that managed to make that mixture work effectively has been “The Impossible,” which was of course based on a true story; “Greenland” is true only as a human-centered reiteration of what apparently happened to the dinosaurs.
You know, sort of like what occurred in "The Impossible," albeit before the disaster has occurred.
Geraldine Chaplin (2010's " The Wolfman ") is also memorable in a cameo role as an older woman whom Thomas meets.
Usually, the characters in this sort of environmental disaster movie—think The Day After Tomorrow , 2012 , The Impossible , San Andreas —are concerned solely with surviving.
Aside: The 5th Wave is also the second tsunami-related movie (after The Impossible) that found me wanting to kick a father in the junk for willingly leaving his kids.
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In "Homeschooled," Naomi Watts (2012's " The Impossible ") and Liev Schreiber (2010's " Repo Men ") play parents determined to give their son (Jeremy Allen White) the full teenage experience without him ever leaving the house?and…