Oseary Drakoulias - "You must swear, legally swear that you will not kill that shark or whatever it is, if it actually exist.."
Steve Zissou

    The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is a daring dramatic comedy brilliantly directed by Wes Anderson and performed by an incredible cast. When world renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou's partner Esteban is eaten by the mythical 'jaguar shark', the team goes on a pursuit to once again find the shark and bestow revenge.

   Early in the film we are introduced to Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) who is an acclaimed oceanographer that closely resembles the presence of the legendary Jacques Cousteau. We soon meet Steve's wife Eleanor (Anjelica Houston), Team Zissou guru Klaus (Willem Dafoe) and a young aviator - Ned (Owen Wilson). Ned intentionally confronts and meets Steve for the very first time to announce that there is a possibility that he is his Steve's son. With this quite shocking and unexpected news, Steve decides to offer Ned a spot on Team Zissou and take him under his wing on this expedition in pursuit of the Jaguar Shark. After thinking it over Ned decides to go along in hopes of unlocking the mystery of his real father. Even though Ned's marine experience is far from par to even that of the several unpaid team interns, his presence somehow fits in with the crew. Despite a wacky twist of events early on, things interestingly piece together and a great deal of reluctant irony and foreshadowing are displayed throughout the early portion of the film.

   Along to join with on Team Zissou is Jane (Cate Blanchett), who is a pregnant writer doing a cover story on Steve. Steve's relationship troubles with his wife who ends up leaving him help fuel his interest in Jane. A developing relationship grows between Steve, Ned, and Jane and the level of friendship among each other is fluctuated throughout the movie. As the film moves on, so does the un-natural fitting of Ned onto the team.

  During the expedition the team encounters various conflicts including getting hijacked by pirates who take hostage the 'bond company stooge' who was sent with the team to oversee proper management. Steve and crew battle off the pirates who take the stooge and are soon rescued by Steve's nemesis and wealthy oceanographer Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum). During the course of the voyage, Alistair himself is unknowingly joined hostage and Team Zissou travels to a remote island in hopes of a rescue mission.

  When all is said and done, they once again locate the jaguar shark and take one last attempt to confront it. The music is quite fitting throughout the film in particular Sigur Ros 'Staralfur' theme which unfortunately is not on the original soundtrack. However, the 2 main songs 'Rebel, Rebel' by Seu Jorge and 'Queen Bitch' by David Bowie surprisingly make a compelling and delightful addition to the film. Wes Anderson has put together an amazing script to help push the flow of the story giving us an exceptional film to show his pure genius.

   Perhaps the most enjoyable part of this film is the characters and acting performance to help push it through. Bill Murray puts on without one of his best performances of his career in this film. Cate Blanchett and Owen Wilson hold their own and one of my biggest gripes about this film is the lack of use for Willem Dafoe's character. Dafoe is incredible in his short screen time and wish they could have worked him in the story a bit more. The story rolls within only a couple minor bumps but ultimately reaches its destination.

  There is much more adult content in this film than I initially expected to see (observed by the 'R' rating). However, this particular content helps beef up the likenesses of the characters in this zany flick. I truely loved this film and think Bill Murray will get quite a bit of recognition for his amazing acting performance. This ranks up with my favorite films of 2004 right behind 'The Aviator'. Congrats to Wes Anderson on one of his best films to date.

Images