Movie Review, Day 13: "Kon Tiki"

Day 13

Movie: "Kon Tiki"
Ticket Price: $9.25
Showtime: 1:30 pm
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1 hours, 58 minutes

Thor Heyerdal and his very small crew makes a daring attempt to sail from South America to Polynesia in a makeshift balsawood raft the way Kon-Tiki, the Inca sun god, did 1,500 years ago. His theory was that Peruvians were the first people to settle in Polynesia thousands of years ago, not settlers from Asia. Without being able to properly secure funding from various magazines and scholarly journals, who wrote him off as if he was crazy for challenging what is already common scientific knowledge, he turns to the Peruvian government for help. Despite not knowing how to swim and with little more than a hypothesis and faith, Thor and his crew, all facing their own demons, set out on this perilous journey and make some astonishing discoveries along the way.

I was completely surprised by this movie. Going into it, I had no idea what it was about, and also had no idea about the expedition itself. There are two versions of this, one in English, one in Norwegian; the one we saw was the English language version, and a little shorter than the stated run time. This movie had suspense, humor, heart, and pretty great acting; you're left rooting for these six men, with little more than a strung together raft in the wide open ocean. Knowing nothing about this subject, I feel like I learned a lot. It's very cool how Thor Heyerdal inspired generations of explorers after World War II.

This was more than just a movie. It's another film that makes you think outside the box and question what you already know. Are you right? Is everything set in stone? Can you finish what cannot be accomplished?

My Rating: 8.5/10
Josh's Rating: 8/10
IMDB's Rating: 7.2/10
Do we recommend the movie: Yes. It has something fascinating about it, even if you're not into movies about exploration/navigation. You really root for these people to succeed!