An atrocious movie with no qualities except lots of (albeit pointless) explosions could have been made better with more background, but it probably would have made it a lot worse. Half a point for sparing us, another for the pyrotechnics.

There’s a certain kind of movie called High Concept, born in the 80’s with a parking ticket-sized plot, more visual style than substance and choose-your-stereotype characters. Nowhere is the concept higher than Ghost Ship, where the title gives the whole movie away.

So the thing I was so drawn to by the book that was still captured by the screenplay was the myth that this wasn’t just a story about some sort of crime tale, it was Plato’s Cave, it was Rapunzel, it was Demeter and Persephone. It had all these reference points that I love so much that were woven into this story in such an innocent and delicate way.