The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

 

The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou was not my cup of tea in terms of film, I'll be honest. It was okay, and I did think there were parts that were funny, but I tend to prefer more engaging stories. I understand that it wasn't supposed to be super serious and dramatic, but I think that it just wasn't for me. I did like the use of color in the film, I enjoyed the brightness and contrast-y backgrounds in shots. I also liked that some of the film was on the water, I feel like I enjoy boat scenes in movies and I should watch more of them, but I just don't see it that often. 

I do find it a little hard to suspend my disbelief about boat scenes though, and I think that was one of the things that unconsciously bothered me about this film. I didn't feel any stakes at any point throughout the movie, and so I lost interest quite early on that was never able to be recaptured. I always believed that Steve would find the shark, and that the hostage rescue mission would work out, and that the love triangle would get resolved fine, etc. 

The one thing that I didn't see coming was Ned's death. It surprised me because I thought that basically everyone would get a "happy" ending, even though Steve himself doesn't look very happy while he is viewing the shark. But I appreciated Ned's death because it did feel a little bit more grounded in reality after the crash.