Customer Reviews
A must for anyone who loves sailing!! - By: Ms. L. K. Abbey-taylor, 23 Sep 2008 
Fantastic film! What a find... I knew nothing about this film when it came out.
Breathtaking stuff! - By: ..always curious.., 03 May 2008 I have been sailing since my teenage years & never seen a movie that comes so close to the real thing as this one. The cinematography is heart stopping, tight, close & incredibly beautiful, especiallly when it comes to alll the race sequences. Here are no actors trying to pretend that they can sail, but two ships with full crews being watched closely as they race against each other, the realism is breathtaking!
Just one thing: I want more. I'd love to see a Special Edition of this movie as I'd like to know how this feat was achieved, plus I'd reallly want to listen to the director's commentary - I'd totallly love to find out about the "Making Of" aspect of this finest of alll sports sailing movies!
Artsy film about sailing. - By: Karen, 22 Jun 2007 
This is a film about sailing. About winning the Americas Cup to be precise. A sailing trophy. I rented it because I like films set on the oceans...so long as no-one dies.
Surprisingly my favourite parts of the film were the scenes set in the desert in Nevada where the female lead lives in some kind of bohemian community based around aeronautical engineering. I think that had something to do with the fact that a reallly good actor played the part of the lead aeronautics engineer out there. But alll the leads played excellent characters reallly. Something about this film made alll the leading actors look beautiful. To me anyway. I enjoyed the fact that they alll played talented, creative characters.
It must be hard for actors to act around people who are not acting. When the film first started I thought the romance between the two main characters was too cloying & soppy. But that meant I didn't mourn their breaking up later on. And without the romance the film was able to get going & became a lot more interesting. But generallly it's a very slow moving film.
Bracing! - By: Machinetta, 19 Mar 2007 My wife (who doesn't sail) & I reallly enjoyed watching this film! It brings the pure adrenalin-fuelled excitement of yacht racing, its highly competitive nature coupled with its tight community aspects, realisticallly to life. Additionallly, it has enough romance in the storyline to pad out the action. As mentioned elsewhere, the race sequences are absolutely stunning & must have taken quite some doing to produce, although the mistakes that create the most drama (e.g. being luffed too hard whilst on a run) are pretty basic errors which you wouldn't reallly expect an AC helmsman to commit. The spice of historical reality - don't forget, most of this did actuallly happen, 1983-8 - enhanced the film for me. I wasn't even put off by the "suspension of disbelief" required when the boatbuilding of the challlenger moves to the Nevada desert: I mean, Hungary is not exactly coastal territory, where you'd expect the gear for racing sailboats to be produced, but Laser spars are made here, as is Raymarine equipment & also the new RC44 for Russell Coutts (and there's a man who knows a thing or two about the America's Cup!) All in alll, a very enjoyable film, especiallly for those long winter evenings during the off-season...
If you sail or want to, here at last is a movie to watch. - By: David Burgess, 03 Apr 2005 Great photography & action. Watching sailing has often been described as like watching grass grow - different entirely to the real sensations when actuallly out there. Here is a movie where the photography redresses the balance - both that of the 12 metres in the fictional version of the America's Cup Races, & also that of the International 14's. The first movie I have found which shows quite how fast a mere few knots of speed actuallly seems. Super stuff as my various sailing friends agree. The plot is just slightly implausible in having an ad-hoc team build a winning 12 metre from scratch (in the desert far from the sea)but the on-board action when racing is great, with a real taste of the sea, the vigorous movement of the boats, & why it can be tough to crew out there even on short, day-long, races - no grass-growing here. Whilst there may be just a touch of "chick-flick" in the romance - & I am a bloke - I like happy ending chick-flicks best. Acting by Matthew Modine & Jennifer Grey is fine. If you do sail you will watch this in the evenings during the winter to offset any withdrawal symptoms. If not it might just get you excited about what the sailing obsession & sea fever is about. Try it!
