Kon-Tiki (2013)

An instant favorite!! Incredible! Spectacular! Fascinating! Awesome! (there are a few more descriptive adjectives but lets stick to these). From the acting, to the visual effects, music and emotion, this was an incredible journey of pure delight. The excitement grips you from the beginning and never lets go. A satisfying adventure drama. Simply awesome!

Checking to see what imported Neo-Noir series BBC 4 would next show,I was surprised to find that they were screening a Nordic high- seas Adventure Drama. Recently finding 2012's The Deep and In the Heart of the Sea to be gripping lost/travelling the high seas films,I got on the raft for Kon-Titki.The plot-Wanting to go against the then-supported theory that the first settlers on Polynesia were people who migrated from "the west", explorer Thor Heyerdahl decides to prove his theory that South Americas in Pre-Columbian times were the original inhabitants by building a raft and going on a 4,300 mile journey across the ocean. Ruling that the raft only be made of materials that the original settlers used, Heyerdahl hires a crew to join him on the raft.View on the film:Hitting thunderous waves against the raft,directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg offer spectacular views of the high seas,with vast sweeping wide shots scanning the wilderness Heyerdahl and the crew are surrounded by. Taking 16 years to swim onto the screen, the directors make it worth the wait,as the decision to shoot on sea leads to a spectacular blending of CGI and the clutching at hope on the raft,which loosens as the crew get attacked by various deadly sea life in gripping battles.Partly based on Heyerdahl's bio, (with some crew changed to bring more "tension" into the film) the screenplay by Petter Skavlan superbly makes it a human adventure,by giving each crew member their own "moment",from the wide-eyed innocence of Heyerdahl to crusty seadog Bengt Danielsson (played by a very good Gustaf Skarsgård.) Going against the tide of his gritty performances in the fantastic Nordic Noir movies of auteur Hans Petter Moland, Pål Sverre Hagen gives a terrific performance as Heyerdahl,thanks to Sverre capturing the earthy,adventure atmosphere of the film,on the raft to Polynesia.

I wish they would have taken a different approach to this story it is based on. It's an unbelievable one, but I feel that by trying to make it more movie like, they've also made it even less believable. The movie does not need a duffer. I seems like they felt a need to have a character add some conflict to the adventure, but I would much rather that they focused on the actual conflict: the people versus the ocean and the weather. And even the ocean feels a bit too dangerous in the movie, as every time anyone gets even close to the water, it's full of sharks.The above, together with some quite cheesy scenes in the first act of the movie, makes this brilliant story more dumb than it ought to be.But it still really awakens my sense of adventure, just as a story about the Kon-Tiki voyage should.

Movies based on a true story are always better, well at least most of the time they are. This story is quite incredible. I would never ever even consider to build a balsa raft and then cross the ocean from Peru to Polynesia. It must have taken a lot of courage and determination to begin an expedition like this one, certainly in that time. Now, about the movie itself, it is pleasant to watch, with nice shots even though they are most of the time on the ocean. The story is not boring at all, au contrary I thought it was very entertaining. No complaint about the cast either. All the actors were good and made it a very believable journey across the ocean. Good movie about a story I never heard of. Now I do, and I'm glad I do.