Visual homages

The movie was a mess. However, it did offer two visual homages to better movies. The first was the design of the figurehead of the Templar ship, which looked like the Maltese Falcon in the eponymous movie. The second was the scene when Tess was dragged up on the beach by the fishermen. The blocking of the scene, with an upright figure (fisherman), a prostrate figure (Tess), and a dark-clothed, albeit camel-less figure advancing across the sand evokes Omar Sharif's entrance at the well in Lawrence of Arabia. The storm scenes of the recovery trawler look like left over footage from The Perfect Storm, but I promised to limit this comment to homages to better movies.

Minor observations, but at least it offers some minor saving grace to this movie.