On L List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
The Lightship (1985)
Rate:
5
Viewed:
4/04, 3/25
3/25:
Which is weirder: the concept of lightships or Robert Duvall's acting?
Director Jerzy Skolimowski tried to make The Lightship appear deep, but it ultimately didn't work. The
first half has all the right elements only to be undone by Caspary's loquaciousness
about nothing. I agreed with the captain when he asked him, "Why do I have to listen to all this?"
Two things don't make sense to me. Since some, if not all, guys on the ship have military experience, why didn't
they take on the enemy? It's five versus two with Caspary not counting because he's weak. By the time they
surrendered their guns to Eugene and Eddie, the odds began to shift too much to them. The second is: where are
the other ships in vicinity? Is the film telling me that Hatteras is practically alone? I don't
think so.
For a while, it did look like Klaus Maria Brandauer and Robert Duvall were carrying the film without a problem.
Eventually, the former became ineffective while the latter turned into ridiculous. On the other
hand, the boy's voice-over narration is too superficial to make a difference in terms of moral. The rest of the
cast is no better, either. At least, the crow was nice-looking before being senselessly killed by Eugene.
By the way, lightships used to act like lighthouses at sea. That's because either anything on land would've been too
far or the technology wasn't advanced enough to provide aid. These lightships never moved, and
the crew's job was to keep records of passing ships, to observe the weather, and to perform rescues once in a while.
The whole thing ceased in the United States on March 29, 1985, after 165 years of operation.
All in all, The Lightship should've ended by overpowering the bad guys from the get-go.