"The Ice Machine's Gone"

We've all watched movies and said, "if [that] one thing didn't happen, there would be no movie, no plot, no story to tell.." or "why did they do [that], when the obvious thing to do would've been [this]."  This is simply because [that] catastrophic turn of events places the story's protagonists in an unforeseen and uncontrollable set of circumstances. And of course as the audience, we love that. With that premise, however, we turn to The Perfect Storm, based on the best-selling book by Sebastian Junger. Although the story is based on a gripping real-life drama, the movie was quoted as "a film that offers nifty eye-candy and nothing else." But we digress. 

Our concern is to cut through the noise and find the real problem in this movie's plot. It's easy to posit the incredibly and ridiculously massive hurricane as the unforeseen event that perplexes George Clooney and his crew. And by perplex, we really mean scared beyond imagination--naturally. The audience is drawn into the crashing waves that tower 100 feet into the sky as we marvel at mother nature's destructive force;  while simultaneously zoning in on George's one last effort to save his ship and crew before succumbing to defeat. All making for great Hollywood action and drama. 

But through this Hollywood flash and flare we start to question... what REALLY put George Clooney and his crew in that position? Answer... the boat's ice machine meltdown. Why? As we know, the crew had been catching swordfish at an incredible rate. So many fish, in fact, that the ice machine broke down and thus was unable to keep the newly caught swordfish fresh until delivery. Had the ice machine remained fully operational, the crew would have simply waited out "The Perfect Storm" making for a seemingly less climactic--but safer--story. 

Now let's dig a little deeper. Why did the ice machine fail [according to the movie]? Answer... the gear motor. In this link, you can see the crew member monitoring the failing gear motor until it stops working. Gear motors can breakdown for a number reasons like overuse, overworked horsepower, lack of lubrication and oil, cracks, etc. All of which could have been avoided had they just contacted Delta Electro Power for a gear motor repair. 

Conclusion. Instead of titling this movie "The Perfect Storm", they should've titled it "The Ice Machine's Gone".