Baltic Storm (2003)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

An action-packed slog

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Oh dear oh dear. What a mess. The plot is good. The docufiction reference frame is good. The actors are top notch professionals. But the directing is pure amateur night.The music score is as ridiculous as the direction, specially in the scene changes were laughable cutover fanfares reminds you of b-movies from the fifties.(minor spoiler) The worst scene must be the Russian soldier getting an amateur fit and stalking like a zombie into the woods having a shootout with a laughably inept hit-man. When he is finally shot he makes a jump backwards himself to simulate the popular film cliché of being thrusted backwards by bullets. What a farce.I am amazed that the great actors like Jürgen Prochnow and Donald Sutherland did not file a lawsuit against the release of this bomb. Listing all the inept scenes would make a list as long as the script. The direction is so inept that Ed Wood would have cringed.

Based on the subject matter and the positive reviews at Amazon, I purchased the DVD. Definitely low budget, but no matter -- the story and story telling get you right in the gut. 'Baltic Storm' is passionately acted, written, and directed. The movie does not revel in the 'Estonia' tragedy (it looks like the filmmakers couldn't have afforded to even if they were so inclined), but instead gets to the heart of the whys and wherefores which contributed to the sinking. By the way, it seems that some of the other comments are reviewing the producer and not the movie. At any rate, don't let that put you off. The movie is definitely worth checking out.

I have to admit, I picked this movie just for the cast, and while Sutherland, Scacchi, and Prochnow were - as usual - great performers, the rest of the movie was such a let down. It feels like it was put together by a team of adolescents with low level scripts, that is, scripts lacking any depth, awful photography and editing, and hilariously lousy score! I can't believe I was able to watch this seemingly long movie until the end... the sad thing is, this could have actually been a great political thriller given the interesting plot. All the potential was there to make it a hit; that is, two main ingredients are there: a great story of national conspiracies, and a great core cast (even though many other actors are pretty much soap opera quality). But maybe I'm missing something; until then it's still not worth more than a 3 in my opinion.

A really good film with some fantastic acting, especially Jurgen Prochnow and also should hopefully give audiences greater understanding of the Estonia disaster. Over 800 people died when the ferry sank in 1994 and the official report was not well accepted by the victims families(depicted extremely well in the film by Prochnow). You don't need to know anything about the disaster to watch this film but by the end you will know a hell of a lot. Making use of both testimonies and Jutta Rabe's research this film makes for an extremely suspenseful two hours. The only thing that lets it down is the soundtrack which occasionally branches off into crazy moments when a few characters are introduced. Other than that, a really good film.