The Impossible (Juan Antonio Bayona, 2012)

Based on the story of a Spanish family who were holidaying in Thailand when the 2004 tsunami hit, The Impossible changes the nationality of the leads to a more marketable British and makes sure that certain emotional cliffhangers are hit on cue. It does start very impressively, with loaded Malick/Roeg-like nature cutaways, then conveying the full horrific force of the wave as it overturns the world and awing with the depiction of the resulting ruin. But it runs out of impetus as the threat recedes and the separated survivors stumble about looking credibly the worse for wear, to be sure, but nevertheless too indulged by serendipity and supporting characters who give way to their star status for us to really worry about what will happen to them. And while the regulation-angelic and plucky child actors could be far worse, Ewan McGregor produces one of those turns again where it seems like he's constantly reminding himself which emotion to try to project at any given moment rather than actually filling the role.

5/10