It boggles the mind that the vast majority of people posting ratings on this website rate this worthless piece of celluloid junk a 4 or better on a scale of 1 to 5. The formulaic script and shockingly pedestrian direction (especially for the Director of Das Boot) are bad enough, but the dialogue is the capper: Clooney's last line in the film (shouted at a wave) is one of the most laughable in film history. I loved the book, but the translation is terrible. Completely missing from the film is the very interesting way in which the storm's development was followed and tracked by meteorologists. Instead, the film creates a false and terribly underdeveloped story about a weatherman who does nothing more than point at a computer screen and say wow. Also lacking is development about the Navy rescue divers (although I found that story to be somewhat distracting in the book). In sum, this translation of an excellent book ended up being a schizophrenic mess, filled more with insipid and flaccid love stories than the drama that drove the real life event. I strongly recommend that if you are a thinking person, even one who really enjoys a great bubble gum flick as I do, do not even waste a buck renting this garbage on dollar night.