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Dead Calm Movie Review

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Actors: Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, Billy Zane
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Dead Calm
Based on a novel by Charles Williams, DEAD CALM is an australian movie directed by Phillip Noyce in 1989.

After the accidental death of their only son, Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill have decided to make a cruise on their boat in the Pacific. One day, they pick up Billy Zane who says to be the sole survivor of his boat. While a suspicious Sam Neill is visiting Zane's boat, Nicole Kidman is kidnapped by a mad Billy who leaves Sam Neill alone on the sinking ship.

Terror on the ocean.


--Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar

A couple take a stranger aboard their boat only to find out that he is a murderer.
--Ryan Zane, Resident Scholar

When you are at sea you don't expect that an killer will be around. So don't pick up any strange person at sea.
--Knut Ragnar H. Bakke, Resident Scholar


Analysis of Dead Calm
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 26.7%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 53.3%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%



Time/Era of Movie: - 1980's-1999
Crime & Police Story? Yes
Crime story: - hunted by killer/stalker

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status: - homemaker/wife
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Hair color? - red
Hair style - medium/shoulderlgn, curly (woman)
Body type - ample bosom & buttocks (woman)
Unclothed? - Slightly see-through clothes
Events of movie makes character more... - tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Secondary Main Character
Identity: - Male
Hair color - brunette (Brown)
Hair style - (man) short/standard straight
Body type - average build (man)
How much in movie? - 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - killer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - 40%
Hair color - brunette (Brown)
Hair type - (man) short/standard straight
Body type - average (man)
unclothed? - chest and buttocks
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant

Setting
Water? Yes
Water: - drowning - sail boat

Style
Accounts of torture and death? - non-gory references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel... - excited
How many deaths in film? - 2
Sex/nudity in movie? Yes
What kind of sex: - kissing - seeing breasts - seeing nude male butt
How much use of techno gadgets? - 1 (None)
Kind of violence: - hand to hand - guns - knives
Is this movie based on a - book
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