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The Impossible Reviews

... A moving, shocking, and visceral film. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 10/10 | Jan 2, 2024

This isn't a narrative of a larger-than-life hero swooping in to save the day; rather, it's a testament to the combined efforts of ordinary individuals, bound by humanity, who become heroes in the crucible of disaster.

Full Review | Dec 11, 2023

What one single movie can do is give at least one true story profound respect and realism. Most importantly, what the beauty of any movie can do is remind us all of the hope and survival that rises from the depths of tragedy and loss.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 4, 2023

With the help of Maria Belon herself, Sergio G Sanchez's taut and tear-stained script never overplays its hand when it comes to sentimentality and cleverly keeps the audience in the dark (sometimes literally) for as long as possible...

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 18, 2023

A punishing experience, with hardly a moment after the first twenty minutes where a lump isn’t in your throat or tears welling up in your eyes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 20, 2022

It tells an intensely affecting story and allows our senses to take it all in and react in our own way.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 22, 2022

It starts not with clever attempts at drawing emotions from the audience, but rather with blunt, staggering visuals to demand pity and sympathy.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 1, 2020

In most years, Naomi Watts would be a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination with a performance that is absolutely mesmerizing and emotionally devastating.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 11, 2020

'The Impossible' is a magnificent survival drama. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 25, 2020

Dramatic and unwavering, The Impossible will make you believe that anything is possible.

Full Review | Nov 27, 2019

The purpose of Bayona's film is "dubious."

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Nov 19, 2019

Sometimes it's sentimental to a fault, but the thrilling and innovative filmmaking that's being done makes it all worth it.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 7, 2019

The Impossible may be schmaltz, but it's damn good schmaltz. It's the kind of story that is so incredible, so impossible, that it can only be true.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 6, 2019

[The Impossible] shows us devastation, yes, unbelievable havoc, yes, horrific human loss, yes. But also, exemplary courage and love and compassion, all done with freshness and feeling.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 21, 2019

The wrath of nature is re-created so masterfully by filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona that it feels like a documentary.

Full Review | Jan 26, 2019

It might seem a noble project, aiming to show the rest of the world what hell some endured. But even a dramatic film can only suggest part of the experience. And I fear The Impossible might serve only to trivialize that experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 18, 2018

Compelling and oozing with conflict and complexity, The Impossible is a heartfelt horror show worth its weight in reflective, ghoulish gold.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 18, 2018

It's all superbly acted, with Watts especially delivering a powerful performance.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 13, 2018

Bayona's staging of the tsunami without (seemingly without) digital effects is relentless, convincing, terrifying, non-stupid, and without Hollywood wonder.

Full Review | Apr 30, 2018

... Watts manages to transmit all the pain she suffers and what goes through the head of the protagonist... [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jan 23, 2018

Cast & crew
User reviews

The Impossible

The story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

J.A. Bayona
Sergio G. Sánchez
María Belón
Naomi Watts
Ewan McGregor
Tom Holland
556 User reviews
392 Critic reviews
73 Metascore
28 wins & 70 nominations total

Red Cross Nurse
Daniel's Father
Old Thai Man
Young Thai Man

Mr. Benstrom

Morten Benstrom
Doctor in Stockroom
Young Nurse in Stockroom
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia The scene where the tsunami hits the resort could only be filmed once. It would have cost too much money to rebuild the set.
Goofs When Daniel meets with his father, he says in Swedish - "vad tung du är Johan (how heavy you are, Johan)" instead of the character's name Daniel. This is because the real name of the character Daniel, is Johan, and it's his real father Jan.

[first lines]

Title Card : On December 26th, 2004, the deadliest tsunami on record hit the South East Coast of Asia. The lives of countless families all over the world changed forever. This is the true story of one of those families.

Crazy credits The title and the rest of the credits do not appear until the end of the film. The only credits that appear at the beginning are the production companies' logos and an explanation of how the Tsunami came about.
Alternate versions There are two versions, the general theatrical release, and a slightly edited cut released in China. The different runtimes are, respectively, "1h 54m (114 min)" and "1h 53m (113 min) (China)".
Connections Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #21.55 (2012)
Soundtracks Iylm Composed and Performed by For Fiesta Voice by Lluís Segura (as Lluís Segura) Guitar by Marc Prades Solo Guitar by Marc Gómez del Moral Bass by David Gallart Drums by Bernat Vilaplana

User reviews 556

Feb 11, 2013
How long is The Impossible? Powered by Alexa
Why were Maria and Lucas hit by a second wave coming from the opposite direction to the first wave?
January 4, 2013 (United States)
United States
Official Facebook
Official site
Thảm Họa Sóng Thần
Khao Lak Orchid Beach Resort, Phang Nga, Thailand
Mediaset España
Summit Entertainment
Apaches Entertainment
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$45,000,000 (estimated)
$19,019,882
Dec 23, 2012
$198,087,212

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 54 minutes
Dolby Digital

More to explore

The Impossible – review

S panish cinema has had a long love affair with genre film-making. Perhaps because of Franco's repressive regime, the country's leading directors have frequently used fantasy, the supernatural and horror to explore loss, regret and, in the case of Juan Antonio Bayona's debut film The Orphanage, family secrets. For his follow-up, Bayona returns to the family unit, but this time in a movie that comes with no dressing. The Impossible simply is what it is, neither metaphorical nor allegorical, and its power comes from its physical scale and human emotion.

It begins with a plane journey; an everyday family – Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three children – are off to spend Christmas in Thailand, where their hotel suite has been upgraded to a villa on the coastline. They settle in, exchange gifts, and head down to the pool, like dozens of other holiday-makers in the area. The scene is perfect, idyllic, until a distant rumble suddenly and scarily becomes a roar. There is no time to move as the tsunami hits; Maria and her eldest are swept one way, Henry and the youngest another.

As far as plot goes, this is pretty much it: who will survive, and what will become of them? But instead of playing for tension, Bayona goes for character and atmosphere. In scenes reminiscent of Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout, we follow family members through the carnage, looking for each other and hoping against all likely hope for some sort of miracle. As Maria, Watts is both brave and vulnerable, and her scenes with the young Lucas (the excellent Tom Holland) are among the film's best, with adult and child now unexpected equals, the mother humbled, the son rising to the challenge. McGregor, meanwhile, gives one of his best performances as the sad and desperate Henry, trying to play the hero, the provider, while knowing his cause is almost certainly lost.

If it weren't based on a true story, the ending would seem preposterous, but part of the appeal of this affecting and powerful drama is that it puts the viewer right in the moment at every stage, using authentic locations and tsunami survivors to hammer home the reality of this tragedy. Like many other films in Toronto this year, it also puts its title credit at the end. At first it seems a little pretentious, but in fact this is quite fitting: in many ways, Bayona's film begins where it leaves off. How will these people put this trauma behind them, and how can anything ever be normal again? This is the film's one tilt to genre, as Bayona invites us to use our imagination.