Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on June 2013

Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts and their three kids (notably young Tom Holland) are in Thailand in 2004 when the Indian Ocean tsunami strikes. The story’s mostly true (the family was Spanish), and director Juan Antonio Bayona has fashioned from it an emotionally realistic, suspenseful tale of great strength and empathy. I liked his less-is-more approach to the SFX, which made them harrowingly believable. But the second half lags, and although it doesn’t entirely ignore the deaths of 300,000 people, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was boiling down the tragedy to the ordeal of one lucky family.