Four men struggle to survive after their boat capsizes during a torrential storm off the coast of Florida inNot Without Hope, which is now playing in Prague cinemas a week ahead of its limited release in the States. This gripping tale from the non-fiction book of the same name by survivor Nick Schuyler and Jeré Longman is made with a raw, unflinching authenticity by director Joe Carnahan, who co-wrote the screenplay with E. Nicholas Mariani and delivers his hardest-hitting film since 2011’s The Grey.
With respect to the true story the film depicts, the story presented Not Without Hope is a familiar one; similar tales of rescue at sea have been put to the screen in films such as A Perfect Storm and The Finest Hours. But Carnahan’s procedural-like depiction of how things go wrong and how these men fight to survive echoes J.C. Chandor‘s All Is Lost, and fully immerses us in into the narrative despite a relative lack of character development.
Not Without Hope stars Zachary Levi as Schuyler, a 24-year-old personal trainer and recent graduate who played American football in college at the University of South Florida with best friend Will Bleakley (portrayed by Marshall Cook). The two are also friends with professional NFL players Marquis Cooper (Quentin Plair) and Corey Smith (Terrence Terrell), who both played with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier in their career.
If you’re not already familiar with this story, you may not pick up these details in Not Without Hope‘s early scenes, which include a casual BBQ filled with small talk that introduces Nick’s fiancée Paula (Floriana Lima) and Marquis’ wife Rebekah (Jessica Blackmore). Fifteen minutes into the movie, the central quartet are headed out on a fishing trip off the coast of Clearwater; ten minutes later, their fight for survival begins after their boat is capsized.
The capsizing is presented here with a frightening eye for detail. It wasn’t an act of God that resulted in the boat turning over, but human error: after his anchor gets caught on the seabed, Marquis attempts a dangerous maneuver with his vessel to try to free it. Once the storm picks up, things go from bad to worse, and the four men have few options but try to cling to the overturned boat and stave off hypothermia.
Scenes of hypothermic shock, which coast guard Captain Timothy Close (Josh Duhamel) calls the worst way to die, are distressingly re-enacted, and our stomach sinks as the warning signs are repeated. Cinematographer Juanmi Azpiroz’s camera bobs in and out of water, and films from behind a hazy pane of glass, as characters dip in and out of consciousness; the sound design is similarly distorted. But rather than distract, Carnahan subtly employs these techniques to immerse us in the horror of the scenario.
As our protagonists come to terms with their mortality, one only wishes we had gotten to know them a little better. Even Levi’s Schuyler feels underdeveloped, and his personal crisis of conscience is referenced but unexplored; “I need to do better,” he tells Marquis in an early scene, without elaborating. Despite serving as a tribute to these men, Not Without Hope is largely uninterested in its characters as individuals, and instead invests in the collective struggle for survival against impossible odds.
On that level, Carnahan’s film delivers with its methodical depiction of not only the crisis faced by the four men struggling to cling to their vessel, but also everyone involved in the rescue operation. It is in these characters that the titular hope most significantly resonates: as days go by, their chances of finding living survivors dwindle. One of the most powerful scenes in the film is not of the characters at sea fighting for their lives, but an introspective moment between Close and Nick’s mother (JoBeth Williams).
Not Without Hope maintains a tight pace throughout, balancing moments of intense physical peril with quieter, reflective beats that allow the audience to grasp the human cost of such disasters. Carnahan’s direction ensures that the tension never flags, even when the narrative is pared down to procedural survival steps. Levi, in a grounded and authentic performance, carries much of the emotional weight, while the supporting cast complement his urgency with moments of understated heroism and camaraderie.
The straightforward nature of the story Not Without Hope tells limits its narrative surprises, but it excels in its meticulous depiction of survival, leaving us with a lingering sense human resilience against the relentless power of nature. Every wave and moment of exhaustion is rendered with unflinching attention to detail, transforming a familiar tale into a visceral meditation on courage, endurance, and the merciless sea.
