Such a frustrating disappointment

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

I'll tell you why so serious

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The story that this docufilm is based on is an interesting one and divided many as to whether it was actually a true story or a fabricated one, whichever you decide upon yourself doesn't effect this title at all. My 2 biggest issues are as follows 1-The voiceover during the film is hard to grasp as it sounds like the person wants to be Werner Herzog but can't do the accent, 2-For the men to have had little food and water for 119 days, they looked remarkably healthy. Other than that the film presents itself nicely, its worth a watch if you like a true story.

120 days at sea with no food or water. How did these four Blokes from New Zealand survive? That's the entire premise for this movie and relates the true story of these brave hapless souls. Its mesmerizing viewing for the movie audience and I strongly recommend ABANDONED (10 stars) for all ages since there is no nudity or swearing. Why this movie didn't get a bigger audience is beyond me. Perhaps its because no "A" list celebrity starred in it or because it wasn't "shot" in Hollywood by a major studio, I don't know. Its movies like these, that a person discovers on there own, that makes movie watching worthwhile. The script in ABANDONED is good, it has excellent production quality, its well directed and the actors are very credible. SEE THIS MOVIE!

This is based upon a true storyIn 1989 four men set sail from Picton, NZ to Tonga in a Trimaran Yacht (google it) when a Rogue Wave capsizes the boat upside down and 119 days later they land on the Great Barrier Island. We have heard of Rogue Agents in spy movies, but a Rogue Wave? Actually, there is such a thing and it can also actually endanger large ships. (You googled it, right?)Of the 4-men on board only one, the owner of the boat, John (Peter Feeney) was a seasoned sailor and everything he owned was tied up into the boat called the Rose Noelle. The others Jim (Dominic Purcell), Rick (Owen Black), and Phil (Greg Johnson) were along for the adventure and had family who learned later there was no hope of a rescue as no search party could locate them. John had no family and the boat was all that he had. Of course, there were bumps along the way and they had to learn to work together to survive. The most important item a licensed marine radio was not on board as John didn't want to endure the expense, and, of course, this set the others against him in a heart beat. The photography was sensational as was the acting by all. Nothing was overdone. They learned how to capture fish and Phil remarked that they had so much food, they should have others over and this brought on a few chuckles. At one point they spied a sailing ship in the distance and tried to send smoke signals, which didn't work. I wondered why they didn't use mirrors glinting off the sun that would be seen even at a great distance. Why indeed?At the end, when they told their story government officials did not believe them nor did the New Zealand populace for the most part. How could they survive 119 days without anyone seeing them? It wasn't possible they said. The government launched an investigation. Over all this was a very enjoyable true story. Watch to the end to see what happened to all of them. John, who lost everything probably wrote the story that became this movie. If there is a lesson to be learned it is: make sure there is a good marine radio on board should you venture out onto the high seas. You just never know. (7/10)Violence: Not really. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Some in the beginning, then it went away.

Made for TV movie (true story) about a capsized trimaran yacht and how it's crew survived for over 100 days. Well done and reasonably accurate about the sailing offshore in a performance multi-hull. Unlike most disaster / redemption films this one obviously was done by people who knew their topic.I enjoyed this film as unlike most it made me feel they did not dumb down the content assuming everyone watching could not truly understand the situation. As a sailor I found this film quite realistic.I feel the actors did a good job of representing the people in the crisis and they avoided overacting with restraint. I'd heard about this situation and the controversy, so seeing the film added a lot of context to news from the other side of the world.