The Impossible (2012)

One choice in The Impossible deserves pushback before anything else: the real family was Spanish, the movie makes them British, and Thai survivors mostly stay at the edges of the frame. It’s worth knowing going in. It’s also one of the most frightening disaster movies ever made, because J. A. Bayona never treats the wave as a spectacle. It’s a roar, then water, then a mother and son trying to find each other in a world that just got rearranged. Naomi Watts is fierce and fading at the same time. A young Tom Holland is the revelation as Lucas, a scared kid who becomes the grown-up in a hospital full of strangers and starts helping other families find each other. The late stretch leans hard on near misses in hallways, and you can feel the movie pulling strings. It made $198.1 million worldwide on a reported $45M. An 8.0 because it’s honest about fear and about the kindness of strangers. $5.03 says you call someone you love before bed tonight, just to hear them pick up.

What works: Naomi Watts and Tom Holland are extraordinary, and the wave itself is staged with terrifying, unshowy realism.

What doesn’t: Recasting a Spanish family as British and sidelining Thai survivors is a real misstep, and the near misses feel engineered.

Who it’s for: Viewers ready for an intense, sincere true story about survival and family, with tissues nearby.