2000, 2 hrs 5 min., Rated PG-13 for language and scenes of peril.�Dir: Wolfgang Petersen. Cast: George Clooney (Captain Billy Tyne), Mark Wahlberg (Bobby Shatford), Diane Lane (Christina), William Fichtner ("Sully"), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Capt. Linda Greenlaw), John C. Reilly (Dale "Murph" Murphy), John Hawkes (Michael "Bugsy" Moran), Allen Payne (Alfred Pierre), Janet Wright (Ethel Shatford), Karen Allen, Bob Gunton.

"In the Fall of 1991, the Andrea Gail left Gloucester, MA and headed to the fishing grounds of the North Atlantic. Two weeks later an event took place that had never occurred in recorded history."

In the summer of 2000, George Clooney finally will make a movie that gets the credit he deserves. In the next two weeks it will be a hit at the box office and with the critics, something that hasn't happened in recorded history.

If Jaws made you afraid to swim in the ocean, the true story of The Perfect Storm will do the same for sailing.

The Perfect Storm was sold to the movie-going public with its special effects and the "money shot" of the 100-foot wave. Yet, when we enter the theater, director Wolfgang Petersen (In the Line of Fire, Das Boot) doesn't let that speak for his film, he has some emotional heartstrings to pull as well. The film takes its time setting up the plot and lollygags for an hour as the characters and situations are introduced, then we ride The Perfect Storm for an intense special effects-laden hour of heroism and awe-inspiring nature.

The special effects were truly amazing, sending the audience on a rollercoaster of wave crashing upon another, leaving the crew soaked and demoralized in their efforts to keep the boat from sinking to oblivion. The film isn't shot in 3-D, so you don't need Dramamine, but you will be swept away by how well Petersen was able to bring the wrath of nature to the big screen. When Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio tells us that "they're running out of scary words," I thought of a few more that The Perfect Storm doesn't say, meaning the four-letter variety.

Another plus is the score by James Horner, who has been intruding on legendary movie music-maker John Williams as a consistently fantastic composer. Unlike John Williams' score for The Patriot, also out this week, Horner's adds to an emotional story and has some originality.

Diane Lane (who, by the way, has really long fingers) and Mark Wahlberg's relationship provides the bulk of the love story -- at least between a man and woman, not man and sea -- as the lovey-dovey couple that does not want to spend more than five minutes apart. Unfortunately, to illicit a tear or two in the female audience there is some cheesy dialogue and a scene near the end (you'll know when you se it) that I giggled at, but I'm beginning to think I have no soul so maybe you'll see the moments differently.

The fishermen lead almost tragic lives, wed to the swordboat: Murph (John C. Reilly) is divorced and rarely sees his son, Billy (Clooney) is divorced with two kids a thousand miles away, Bugsy (John Hawkes) has been unable to find a woman interested in him, Bobby (Wahlberg) is in love yet also loves to fish, Sully (William Fichtner) carries a troubled past that is unclear to the audience and Alfred Pierre (Allen Payne) is not given any depth whatsoever, so we don't know what his motivations are. Mastrantonio not given much to do but yell, yet we'd like to know more about Capt. Greenlaw, the only female swordboat captain.

The world of the fisherman is unknown to the average American, and Petersen conveys what it takes to be one; a perilous and lonely life in which when Wahlberg's mom says how glad she is that he's safe when returning from a relatively uneventful and calm trip, she means it. Everyone on the boat is in complete dependence with the others, yet being in a confined space for one to months at a time nerves are easily frayed. Away from civilization the guys are out of touch, and are stuck with the same three movies to watch over and over.

If PETA was upset by the cast of CBS's "Survivor" killing rats and fish, wait until they see The Perfect Storm! Even though all fish were animatronic or plastic in the movie, just watching the fisherman grapple these enormous beasts and blast a shark will have the animal-rights activists steaming. Ah, forget them, I say. As this month's "Men's Health" points out, a 3-oz swordfish steak has 22g protein and 900 mg omega-3 fatty acids. More protein may lower your heart-disease risk by 26 percent, and eating omega-3s strengthens heart muscle, lowers blood pressure and helps prevent blood clots. So fish away my good men!

In The Perfect Storm, Clooney is having a bad streak and hearing it constantly from the boss, while Mastrantonio's sister ship brings in big hauls. Two days after arriving in port, the crew of the Andrea Gail goes back out, even further this time to reel in an enormous catch. However, the "storm of the century" arrives between them and the mainland, thus the guys must pound through the storm to get back quickly in order to deliver a fresh batch of fish for enormous sums of cash.

Having lost the antenna and thus all contact with authorities, Clooney heads straight into the monster, the "storm of the century" as three powerful systems merged in the North Atlantic and sat in place for four days, churning up waves as high as 100 feet. The fear of facing this is unimaginable. I was surprised that any ship could survive those conditions longer than an hour, and the Air National Guard pararescuemen actually survived in the water for five hours waiting to be rescued by a Coast Guard cutter.

The Coast Guard and Air National Guard, especially the para-rescuers, may come off as the most heroic people in The Perfect Storm. The men are risking their lives in the most extreme conditions possible in the air and in the sea, at times seeming almost suicidal in their devotion to save those in danger.

In the end, The Perfect Storm is not perfect, but there is something for everyone to appreciate and enjoy, from the effects to the emotion, you'll come away with an appreciation for the lives of the real-life characters as well as the brutality of the sea.