The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou Review
by Harvey S. Karten (harveycritic AT cs DOT com)December 8th, 2004
THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Touchstone Pictures
Grade: B-
Directed by: Wes Anderson
Written by: Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach
Cast: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon, Bud
Cort
Screened at: Disney, NYC, 11/18/04
"The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" is exactly the kind of off- beat film we'd expect of Wes Anderson. Anderson's previous films are quirky as well. He debuted with "Bottle Rocket" eight years ago, a low-key comedy, which featured Owen Wilson, about two young friends who try to embark on a life of crime. He followed that with his best feature, "Rushmore," featuring Bill Murray, about an oddball 15-year-old kid at Rushmore prep school in Houston who complicates his life by falling in love with a first-grade teacher and befriends a local tycoon who feels a kinship with him. In "The Royal Tenenbaums," Owen Wilson shows up again in a story of a loser, played by Gene Hackman, who abandons his wife and three genius children long ago and now needs to make up for lost time. In his "New Biographical Dictionary of Film," critic David Thomson takes note of Anderson's films through 2002 but leaves the text blank except for the cryptic note, "Watch this space. What does that mean? That he might be something one day."
My own view is that the thirty-four year old writer-director was "something" with "Rushmore." However while "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" takes its theme from "The Royal Tenenbaums" in that it focuses on a man who is estranged from his wife and feels a need to make up for lost time with a fellow who might or no might not be his son, it doesn't fit the genre of comedy, which the public might expect it to be, because two people near and dear to the title character, Steve Zissou, die–one is eaten by a shark in the film's back-story, the other passes on at the conclusion of the watery tale.
"The Life Aquatic" is obviously inspired by the voyages of oceanographer Jacques Costeau, but while considerable portions of this two-hour pic deal with the adventures of a crew captained by Steve Zissou (Bill Murray), the focus is on Zissou's lost opportunities with a twenty-nine year old, Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), who may be his son, and his failure to keep a marriage together with the woman who has helped finance his voyages, Eleanor Zissou (Anjelica Huston).
The story opens in Italy where a sophisticated, formally-dressed audience belonging to a society interested in oceanography watches a documentary feature produced by Steve Zissou about one of his voyages. Steve Zissou is depressed that on this trip, a giant Jaguar shark had killed and eaten his best friend. When the master of ceremonies during the Q and A asked what would be Zissou's scientific purpose in killing the shark despite its being on a list of endangered species, Zissou pauses for a considerable length of time and responds, "revenge." This surprising response represents the faintly comic tone of the enterprise, exploiting the kind of quirkiness for which Bill Murray is famous.
On the excursion, Zissou's crew is made up of folks from various nationalities and persuasions, including the German, Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe), Steve's putative son, Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson) who is asked by Zissou to change his name thereby reflecting the alleged parentage, a Sikh, a singer of Portuguese songs, Pele (Seu Jorge), a Pole, Wolodarsky (Noah Taylor), a crew of interns seeking college credit. There is one female on the vessel, a journalist, Jane Winslett- Richardson (Cate Blanchett) who is five months into a pregnancy. The one episode that could rank as true adventure involves the boarding of the ship by a group of tough Filipino pirates, who make off with a safe holding the entire inheritance of Ned Plimpton, $275,000, used to help finance the voyage.
"The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" is a sweet story but is filled with episodes that do little to advance the plot. For example, at one point, when the crew embark on a small island, Steve becomes covered with swamp leeches. "Hey everyone, check for swamp leeches...am I the only one? What's the deal?" The deal is that Wes Anderson, trying to appeal to a audience who'd think that their affection for this adventure makes them "cool," has taken a step down from more controlled, best work, "Rushmore."
Rated R. 118 minutes. © 2004 by Harvey Karten
@harveycritic.com
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