One of my all time favorites.

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

To make a movie such as this that tackles the real life disaster of the 2004 tsunami is no small task. It took the lives of so many and even for those of us around the world that weren't there or were fortunate enough to not have any loved ones involved, it still never leaves you. I remember the devastation and disbelief of seeing it on the news just as I remember the day of the 9/11 attacks. Disasters like that are cemented in all of our consciousnesses for the rest of our lives. It's a fantastic take on the sheer devastation and shock that the people present that day must've experienced. It felt so real in places that it felt I was watching a documentary rather than a movie. The way the tsunami itself was filmed was incredible as were the reactions of the family at the centre of it all. However, none of this stops the movie from being dull. I understand that many will appreciate this movie because of what it is about and for being a realistic and honest depiction of it, but there's simply no entertainment value. There's no story, nothing to get invested in. The movie follows the same family of five from beginning to end which should have made it more impactful, but unfortunately, it didn't. Whilst the family's pain and shock was understandable and I could imagine the horror of being in that exact situation myself, I simply wasn't invested in them to the extent I should've been. Personally, I think this movie would have been a hundred times better if it was told from the perspective of the locals of Khao Lak. Although there were many Thai characters involved in the movie, it would've been even more emotional for it to be told by them. Whilst the British family we followed were physically and mentally impacted by the disaster, the reality is they could jump on a plane at the end, go home and move on with their lives. It was the local people who had their entire lives destroyed and had to pick up the pieces. Why not tell us that story instead? It seems that the filmmakers felt the only way to tell and interesting or relatable story was to tell it from an English-speaking white family's perspective, which makes no sense to me. I haven't seen any other movies based upon the 2004 tsunami, so perhaps there are already such movies out there that exist, but I still strongly believe this should have focused on the locals rather than a British family.Furthermore, although the ending was as happy as it could have been it was very unrealistic and it would've added to the authenticity of the movie if it had a different ending.

The movie made me nervous. Nervous that the main characters would either die or be seperated permanently. When the film said that it's based on a true story, I immediately thought that the family would reunite... (I THOUGHT, THAT DOES NOT MEAN THEY DID/DIDN'T, SO THAT'S NOT A SPOILER) .....but the film's screenplay made me think that they might not reunite. I almost cried at times thanks to the incredible performances of Ewan, Naomi and future spidey Tom Holland. And I really loved the part where some of the characters showed similarities in their personalities by doing the exact same thing. I'm glad the film pointed that out.

Although the film was well produced I just could not believe that it focused on the lives of a rich white family and although most of the maimed and dead were Thai there was virtually none shown as part of the movie which is a complete disgrace and how it could have been left out I really have not a clue - If I was Thai and had lost people I would have found this film to be very disrespectful and disingenous!Apart from the fact Ewan McGregor is one of the most over-rated actors and he is a fellow Scot I just cannot stand his poor acting skills and his attempts at various accents , in particular he cannot decided whether he is American or British in this film. Watts and the young boy give exemplary performances however so it does merit a fair few stars but would have been so much better if it had been a fairer representation of what the Thai people have experienced.One other thing that really gets my goat - if you check out all the real reviews on here you will notice they are around 1-6 stars then as soon as the real reviewers are posting along come the 9 and 10 star reviews in batches of between 5-10 - each profile having done only one review in their lifetime its so obvious the movie producers are paying people to "big up" the films ratings and its very sad that IMDB do not have a policy of monitoring and removing these shills.

The trivia section notes "the Ball was Yellow not Red, as shown in the film. Maria Belón said it was the "biggest lie" in the movie." How can that be the biggest lie in the movie when the film based on her Spanish family's story are portrayed as being English? What other lies are there?Many reviewers have criticized the movie for that portrayal and that the film does little to portray the Thai that died (nor the Sri Lankans for that matter). Don't they see that is the truth of the story being told that it is a Hollywood world?Did any of them try to fund a version that told a different story? Did any of them reach out to help the victims other than to criticize this movie? What help is that? How different is that than some film company making a profit for telling this tale? Perhaps the outcry would have been even greater had they portrayed the Thai victims and made money for that.When the son lies to his Mom that her leg is still red (and hence well) it is a metaphor for the whole story that things are not well in how the incident has impacted civilization and belies the lie that Hollywood Culture (you and I who watch this film) cares.I was grief stricken when this disaster struck and reached out to friends who were in the area. Sure enough they were greatly affected having been swept away in the path of the tsunami. I contributed nothing to the relief fund. (My donations go to Wildlife Conservation)This is just a movie; it helps to remind that the disaster happened and that concern for extent of the disaster is a Western perspective. We are not one with the world - therein lies the truth of the lies - we don't care.The special effects and editing were superb - it was so realistic 10 out of 10. The story and acting so so - a 5 out of 10 for an average of 7. For revealing our lies - priceless.