Sinking Ship

The scrappy salvage tug Arctic Warrior sets out to plunder the legendarily missing and newly discovered luxury liner, Antonia Graza, and all bloody hell breaks loose for Captain Sean Murphy (Gabriel Byrne, 100 percent sodium chloride), robust team leader Maureen Epps (Julianna Margulies) and their crew, guided by a completely boring conniver (Desmond Harrington) who’s called Jack Ferriman (as in, hint-hint, “Don’t Pay the…”). The lovingly detailed setting and eerie atmosphere count for much, but Ghost Ship just isn’t likely to shiver your timbers. Following the floundering Thirteen Ghosts, director Steve Beck still hasn’t figured out that graphic violence and wanton cruelty do not a scary movie make. The poorly plotted, rehashed screenplay is partly to blame, but Beck is simply no master of suspense. Not scary enough for its own good, his Ghost Ship ends up stuck, enjoyably enough, between the Scylla of schlock and the Charybdis of camp.