There’s nothing quite like a disaster movie. With the spectacle of large-scale calamities and an exploration of human resilience, disaster films have been a staple of Hollywood since cinema’s early days. The genre blossomed in popularity in the ‘70s with films like Airport and The Towering Inferno and has continued to grow throughout the decades with movies like Twister, Contagion, and Greenland, attracting big-name stars along the way. After making the transition to acting in the ’90s, and just three years after his breakout role in Boogie Nights, Mark Wahlberg starred in an iconic blockbuster disaster movie that just stormed its way onto a new streaming home.
The movie is The Perfect Storm, and it’s available to stream on Peacock after joining the platform on January 1st. Director Wolfgang Petersen’s disaster drama tells the true story of Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing vessel that was lost at sea after being caught in one of the greatest, fiercest storms in modern history, dubbed the Perfect Storm of 1991. Wahlberg, George Clooney, John C. Reilly, Diane Lane, William Fichtner, and John Hawkes star as crewmembers aboard the Andrea Gail.
The Perfect Storm Is Still One of the Best Disaster Movies
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The Perfect Storm wound up being a massive financial success, taking eighth on the list of highest-grossing films of 2000 with a $328 million worldwide box office haul – but that commercial success didn’t exactly translate into critical praise. In fact, The Perfect Storm only holds a 47% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and the audience reception was pretty mixed, too, at 63%. The movie has seemed to have gotten better with time, and it’s now not uncommon to see The Perfect Storm ranking on lists of best disaster movies of the 21st century and of all time. The movie is even proving to be a streaming hit on Peacock and currently ranks as the ninth-most-popular movie on the platform.
What makes The Perfect Storm one of the best is the way that it blends breathtaking visuals depicting nature’s sheer power with a strong human element that turns a real-life tragedy into an emotional, character-driven story. Rather than being purely effects-driven, which the movie does excel at, The Perfect Storm puts a large focus on and develops the crew of the Andrea Gail in a way that makes audiences genuinely care about them. This balance of a thrilling spectacle of nature’s fury and the courage of those caught within it makes the tragic outcome resonate deeply with viewers. Under Petersen’s direction, the movie also succeeds at building suspense and making viewers feel trapped and helpless as the crew sails into an inescapable storm, and the entire cast delivers powerful performances of rugged determination and hopeful vulnerability.
What’s New on Peacock?
Peacock subscribers have plenty of great streaming options following a rush of arrivals at the start of the month. Movies like Cold Pursuit, House of Gucci, and The Tomorrow War all started streaming, with the complete Hunger Games franchise and Twisters following not long after.
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