In the Heart of the Sea

In the Heart of the Sea

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland

Directed by Ron Howard

The Story:
In 1850, young Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) visits the home of Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson) to implore him to tell the story of the doomed Essex, a ship supposedly demolished by a huge whale.  At first he is reluctant because he doesn't want to re-live the past, but after some prodding from his wife, he agrees and tells the story that would inspire Melville's classic tale "Moby Dick."

Under the command of Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) and his First Mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth), the Essex sets sail in hopes of finding precious, valuable whale oil.  Also aboard the ship is Owen's old friend, Second Mate Matthew Joy (Cillian Murphy) and a young cabin boy named Thomas Nickerson (Tom Holland).

As the ship sets sail, Pollard and Chase come under constant disagreement, with Chase feeling he should've been the captain due to his tried and true time out at sea, but due to politics he got passed over by the green Pollard. 

Their clash comes to an end though when they discover the great white whale, which sets out to destroy the whaling ship and stalk the crew.  What follows is a harrowing tale of survival, revenge, and forgiveness.

The Synopsis:
"Moby Dick" is one of the most well-known classic novels in history, yet it's very rarely made into a film (besides the Gregory Peck 1956 version, there's also a subpar film featuring Patrick Stewart and a not-even-need-to-be-mentioned horror film).  The reason why is due to the lengthy story, and to be able to fully do it justice on the big screen, it would have to be split up.

So I give kudos to Ron Howard - who is one of the most underrated directors of our time ("Apollo 13," "The Da Vinci Code," "A Beautiful Mind") - for tackling the tale in a new and intriguing fashion: by focusing on the true life event that led to the novel's creation.  However, just like the fictionalized novel, "In the Heart of the Sea" bit more than it could chew in one sitting, and yet somehow was able to feel overly bloated and lengthy.

Glossing over the historical inaccuracies (Melville never met Nickerson, for example), "In the Heart of the Sea" was a story that, surprisingly, went nowhere.  The story is simple - find whale oil.  The conflict was minimal at best.  The major clash  between Chase and Pollard never really came to fruition, as it seemed in a matter of seconds all was forgiven and they were working together.  Part of this problem is due to the editing, as days of adventure on the seas turn to seconds, with nary a mention of anything happening in that long time span.  Chase and Pollard are clashing and at each others' throats on day twelve, but then best friends by day thirty, and we don't get to see how that happened.

After the whale destroys the ship, the film takes on an "Unbroken" feel to it as the crew struggles to survive in the vast ocean.  Once again, days - even months - pass, and I suppose stuff happens in between, but yet again, we aren't told what.  If I had to float adrift for months with nothing happening, I would easily die of boredom, which I almost did watching this film.

There's been a lot of talk over how cheap the CGI looked, so I fully expected to see whales on the scale of "Sharknado" quality, so I was pleasantly surprised over how realistic it looked.  Maybe I went into it with such a low expectation it was able to supersede it.   Yes, the close-up shots of the crew members struggling clearly give the notion that they're not really in the ocean but on one of those wave simulators you see on cruises, but it didn't really bother me.  Those were the moments that jolted me out of an almost sound sleep during the rest of the movie.

As I said earlier, "In the Heart of the Sea" is an enigma.  It should've been longer, but it felt too long.  There needed to be more in-depth characterization of the main characters, but there was none.  If Howard had spent more time developing the characters and making us feel for them, it wouldn't have been such a bore.  Yet, that wasn't the case, and as the crew began dying, I found myself not caring in the slightest ("oh no, crew member #12 died.  I think I remember seeing him for a hot second.  Oh well"). 

The Summary:
Even though it had the word "heart" in the title, "In the Heart of the Sea" was surprisingly absent of it.

The Score: B