It's taken me months to get bored enough and desperate enough to have gone out and rented the DVD as I had my doubts.

oscar jubis: "indulgent sequence (Filipino pirates, etc.)"

tabuno: I have to agree with oscar jubis here. One of the biggest jarring moments that seemed like oil and water in this movie was the light, mesmerizing emotional feel to this movie that was then shattered by this overly serious, dramatic and somewhat unbelieveable heroic escapades with the private subplot. For me this whole sequence tore the movie disturbingly and I had to down rate this movie just for these sequences. The approach and the dissonance it created in me didn't seem natural to the core of this movie.

chris knipp: "Sofia Coppola’s second film showed Murray’s ironic wistfulness; The Life Aquatic showcases a far wider spectrum of expressions and emotions."

tabuno: In some ways I enjoyed Bill Murray better in Lost in Translation because Bill Murray himself didn't intrude on himself in that movie. In this movie Bill Murray remained too much in the foreground, that in itself was distracting to me. I agree that Life Aquatic allowed for a wider spectrum of expression and emotions but that doesn't necessarily translate into better. In Lost in Translation, he had the more difficult job of restricting his expression into a narrow band of realism in a foreign city without his typical assortment of corny humor. In Life Aquatic, we do get both his outlandish (a somewhat toned down version that not enough in my mind) humor and also the more complex subtlety of mixed emotions, confusion, regret, sorrow, sadness. Yet again the Pirate subplot rips to shreds the believability of this character, with him coming through unscathed. It would have been perhaps even more touching if Bill Murray and the rest of his crew had been as dramatic as the pirates and then perhaps the movie would have really become a much more difficult yet more accomplished achievement. But Bill Murray remains Bill Murray in this movie. It's too bad that Bill Murray couldn't have been fitted with a out of character role that Willem Defoe or Owen Wilson had to perform with great effect.