CompleteMartialArts.com - Wind
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List Price: $14.94
Our Price: $12.99
Your Save: $ 1.95 ( 13% )
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Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Starring: Matthew Modine, Jennifer Grey, Cliff Robertson, Jack Thompson, Stellan Skarsgård
Directed By: Carroll Ballard
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 9780767888714
Format: Anamorphic
ISBN: 0767888715
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: 2003-03-11
Running Time: 126
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 1992-09-11
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Editorial Reviews:
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Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/13/2008 Run time: 126 minutes Rating: Pg13
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: If you own a big screen...
Comment: I saw this move years ago on a premium movie channel. At the time I recall thinking that I would love to see it on a large screen. Fast forward to 2008, I have a 52" big screen. I ordered this DVD.
WOW! It was everything I remembered and more. Awesome, stunning visuals.
The sailing scenes rock!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: wind
Comment: great come from behind movie. great sailing movie great action shots. if you love to sail it gets five stars
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wind
Comment: Really good movie. I've been looking for this one for a while now. Great to finally have it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Climb
Comment: Buy many,you will want to give more than one away.It could change the life of someone you love.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The yacht wins, the film loses
Comment: This was a difficult film to review because although it is generally pretty bland there are some aspects I really liked and some I found awful. Overall I couldn't give it more than 2 stars.
Basically, it's a simple action picture about the America's Cup - good solid B-grade material. The acting is passable, although the actors are weighed down with a terrible script that is full of cliches and stereotypes. There is no imagination to the characterisation and the film never really engages the viewer.
The scenes of sailing are, however, very well filmed and do capture the feeling of yacht racing, and the climax is suitably exciting and satisfying. Unfortunately the rest of the film is so slow and so full of silly characters and dreadful dialogue that it makes the good bits hardly worth waiting for.
But there is one great flaw in this film, and it is unforgivable. A film such as this can contain fictional characters instead of the actual people who participated in the events, and it can even fictionalise events to a certain degree. It is essential, however, that major events and characters are not altered because it is these that anchor the film to reality. Change something important and the film becomes fantasy instead of adventure in an historical setting.
For example, suppose the plot of Ron Howard's film "Apollo XIII" had the astronauts land on the moon and then the accident that crippled the ship occur on the return leg of the voyage. The viewer would know that they were no longer watching historical drama, but science fiction instead.
Well, that's what "Wind" does. The director never seems to be able to decide whether they were creating a drama about the actual loss and subsequent win of the America's Cup by US teams in the 1980s, or whether they wanted to make a fictional story.
For example, in early scenes the US syndicate boss is seen examining and lovingly touching a winged keel on their yacht - implying that it was a US invention. In reality, it was the winged keel, invented by Australian Ben Lexcen, that was fitted to the Australian challenging yacht and contributed to her capture of the cup. The America's Cup was also not lost due to a misjudged turn by the defending skipper, as the film implies - it was lost by 5 races to 4 due to the superior skills and technology of the Australian team. The US boat was simply outraced.
Similarly, the cup was won back by the US in the next race, but not by the use of a "secret weapon" spinnaker (illegal according to the rules anyway) or an innovative hull design, but simply by good sailing on the part of the US team. The writers were so concerned with fabricating a love story and creating dramatic situations that they sacrificed the genuine drama and excitement of the race. They made suspension of disbelief impossible by rewriting historical facts, and that's just plain bad film making.
"Wind" could have been so much more, and in the hands of a good director the flaws in the script could have been reduced, unfortunately Carroll Ballard was not up to the task. Full marks to the cinematographer, however, for some spectacular shots of yacht racing.
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