Ghost Ship - produced by the same people who brought you The Matrix and Thirteen Ghosts (says the cover) and directed by Steve Beck. Approximate run time of 90 minutes with lots of extras.
The Stars
Well the names don’t exactly appear to be cinematic superstars: Gabriel Byrne, Julian Margulies, Ron Eldard or Desmond Harrington are as good as you get.
Synopsis
Ghost ship is a great garish thriller based around the salvage crew of the Arctic Warrior. The movie starts off with a peaceful, happy tune while we are introduced to the 1960’s, first class ocean liner, the “Antonia Graza”. Everyone is enjoying the party atmosphere while the ship’s singer, Francesca gracefully sings her party tunes in Italian. Just after you settle into the scene comes a big BANG and a rigging boom cable cuts everyone on the deck in half except one little girl, Katie (played by Emily Browning). Mayhem ensues on the ship but we cut to the modern day on board the “Arctic Warrior”.
While the Warrior’s crew are celebrating their latest salvage they are approached by a man calling himself Ferriman (played by Desmond Harrington from movies We were Soldiers and Riding in Cars with Boys). He claims he’s found a big liner drifting in the ocean not responding to anything. The team are discussing whether or not to take the job when Captain Murphy, (played by Gabriel Byrne from movies End of Days and Stigmata) says ` if the sea gives you an opportunity you take it’. So they agree to take their chances.
The team is trudging along when the ship comes up on the radar then disappears before they practically run into it and the salvage starts. They board the ship and within five minutes things start going wrong. Munder (played by Karl Urban) falls through the weakened floor and while struggling to pull him to safety, Epps (played by Julianna Margulies from E.R.) sees the spirit of Katie but she blinks and the spirit’s gone. She says nothing to the crew and they continue back on the Warrior to organise their plan and before long they’re back on the liner trying to fix it.
During their exploring Epps and Ferriman come across cases filled with gold bars so they gather everyone together and the plans change. But the modern day carnage begins as Katie keeps popping up trying to warn Epps about their destiny. Epps can’t help but be intrigued by the girl and keeps disappearing to find out more. Before long one by one the crew end up dying due to the mesmerising effect the ship’s spirits have. The gold loses its priority as they rush to get off the ship alive but the ship is slowly consuming them. Who wins - the crew or the ship? You have to watch to find out.
Summary
The characters do have personalities but the movie is big on shock value and it’s interesting to see both character development and shock value in such a film. The movie does have great special effects but attempted to steer away from the digital effects choosing an Australian company, Photon to create and record the miniature effects with the ships. The extras are fascinating with in-depth looks at the special effects and interviews with the crews that created the miniatures and dead and dying bodies, career highlights of each of the main stars and a documentary. A great modern day thriller.
Extras
A fabulous array of specials with Visual Effects, Prosthetics and Production Design featurettes as well as an interactive tour of the Ghost Ship, music video, cast and crew bios and the theatrical trailer.