The Vanishing

It's nice to see Gerard Butler taking on a role that reminds us he can act and with a surprising amount of range. He has become Hollywood's go to man for B movie action over the last few years. However in 'The Vanishing' he gives the stand out performance. With strong support from Peter Mullan and Connor Swindells this film tells the story of three lighthouse keepers that vanished without trace off the coast of Scotland. Obviously only inspired by true events Director Kristoffer Nylholm's film is a tense slow burn thriller that relies on the three actors to drive the story through dialogue rather than action. As aforementioned it is Butler's performance that captivates the most as the three men discover a man washed ashore with a wooden chest. It is apparent that the contents of the chest is rather valuable when three more individuals come looking for their property. Nylholm's film never truly ignites. It instead smoulders. Tension is turned up by the three leads as their predicament gets the better of them. Greed, guilt and madness ensues in what Is a superbly crafted movie. It's a shame Butler doesn't lend himself more to these type of roles and allow himself to flex those acting chops rather than his muscles. Don't get me wrong I love his cheesy action roles but here he's allowed to shine as an actor. Mullen is the father figure of the crew and he is the one turned to for wisdom and advice whilst Swndells character is the naive new Youngblood. I recommend that you watch this film. It's slow but captivating like a good mystery thriller should be.

The movie is a tragedy, an imaginary tale of what could have happened to the real "keepers" who indeed vanished back in mid december of 1900, and never heard of again.

The truth is that nobody knows for sure what was the fate of the real three men at the Flannan Isle, and anybody's guess is as good.

Theories abound about what really happened, from alien abduction to a giant wave, and anything in between.

Was it a terrible natural accident, such as the three men falling down a cliff or down inside a cave? Or something more sinister as the men kill each other?

Your guess is as good as mine.

In the real diary entry logged by the real keepers, they write about a terrible weather "as the one they have never seen in 20 years at sea."

That particular entry in the book is extraordinary, having in consideration that weather reports at the time indicated that weather was fine and calmed and the first rain can in on december 17, 1900. That is baffling to say the least.

Will we ever know what happened to those 3 scotish men, thomas, donald and james? sadly, most probably not, which is so sad, especially because they had wives and children.

About the movie itself, i'd say its pretty good. i give it a 6.

acting is excellent from the three main actors, as well as from the supporting characters. all did a good work, and the director set the grim tone right from the beginning.

the drama unfold with camera close to the faces of the actors to emphasis the tragedy going on, no images from the beauty of the ocean and a blue scotish sky don't expect to see that.

all is sad from the very beginning and the only laughs occurred when donald and james found gold in the chest. other than that, all is grey.

i'd recommend the movie to anyone who likes thrillers and tragedies on film. no special effects just plain good old fashioned acting (good actually) and an ending kind of predictable, still enjoyable (again if you like tragedies).

This is a really good film, with a solid plot, very good acting, good scenes and photography, good storytelling. I don't get the really low ratings from many viewers ... or I do? Most of them complain about the film being slow. Ladies and gentlemen, films can be slow, can't they? THey're not bloody Ferrari, are they? What is wrong with a slow film? I think that generation of ignorant and undereducated people have been used too much to Hollywood crap and their brains have shrank up to having the attention span and stimuli need of ant-aize brain. They need explosion, sensless plot with unlikely situations and even more unlikely solutions, they need the awe. So a good solid well written and acted film, beautifully shot, with also some psychological insight becomes worth of just 1, 2 or 3 stars and is disappointing to them because it is "slow" and doesn't replicate hollywood style s h i t . I guess what people nowadays demands to films is consistent with more and more an industrial product with standard characteristics and less and less with art and insight. Not that this film is a masterpiece, it is just a very good film. Not enough? So don't pay attention to them, just sit down, relax and enjoy this beautiful film. Not easy to find these days where 95% of releases are c r a p for lobotomized people.