The Finest Hours

The Finest Hours

Starring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Holliday Grainger

Directed by Craig Gillespie

The Story:
The date is February 18, 1952.  The place is Chatham, Massachusetts.  A major storm has come, and off in the ocean, two huge oil tankers had both been split in half.  While one oil tanker was able to release a distress call, the other wasn't.  On board is 33 men, including chief engineer Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck), who rallies the other seamen to run their half of the ship aground and wait for rescue.

Meanwhile, back at the mainland, Coast Guard crewman Bernie Webber (Chris Pine) has fallen in love with local girl Miriam Pentinen (Holliday Grainger), and needs permission from his Chief Warrant Officer (Eric Bana).  While he's at the Coast Guard office, news reaches of the stranded seamen, and Webber is ordered to go out and rescue the men - in what seems to be a suicidal effort, due to the storm and the extremely rough waters.

Still, Webber takes on the task and brings Seaman Richard Livesey (Ben Foster), Third Class Andrew Fitzgerald (Kyle Gallner) and Seaman Ervin Maske (John Magaro) with him.  They board a tiny rescue ship and set sail on the perilous mission, that becomes the greatest small boat rescue U.S. Coast Guard history.

The Synopsis:
"The Finest Hours" is the harrowing true-life tale of Bernie Webber and his never-give-up attitude to rescue a bunch of seamen who were stranded at sea after their ship was torn in two.  It seemed like an impossible task - a small rescue boat, a major storm on land, and a nor'easter at sea.  Just getting to the boat was a monumental task, but Weber's fearless leadership and tactical boating experience drew the inspiration from his small crew to achieve this task.

The beginning of the film was a little dry, with the story of how Bernie and Miriam met, and their whirlwind romance that should've made the audience really feel for the woman as she fears for her man out at sea, but in reality it turns into a boring story that doesn't go very far.  While Bernie is out at sea, Miriam becomes a whiny, one-dimensional caricature who does nothing but bother the commanding officer to bring him back, and then leaving in a tiff without a coat and driving into a snowdrift.  Their real love story is something to be emulated, but here it becomes an unnecessary B-story to an otherwise exceptional A-story.

Speaking of caricatures, pretty much every named member of the Pendleton (the ship that tore in half) fits the typical disaster movie tropes.  There's the hapless leader who has to rise to the occasion after the death of the real leader, his loyal first mate, the voice of reason, the moron who thinks he knows what's best, the scared young man and the jolly cook.  Each of them hold true to their time-tested roles, offering nothing new and making them extremely interchangeable as to who you actually care for - and you really don't care for any of them.

When it comes to Bernie Webber, Chris Pine gives one of his better performances here, as he doesn't give his normal cocky, arrogant heir to the role.  Bernie is your average 50's-style man who is extremely humble, generous, kind and meek.  As it is in real life, Bernie is the true hero of this tale. 

If you've heard of this movie before, and think you've seen it, you probably saw the George Clooney 2000 movie "The Perfect Storm."  Both of these movies have extremely similar circumstances.  The imdb synopsis of "The Perfect Storm" is: "An unusually intense storm pattern catches some commercial fishermen unaware and puts them in mortal danger," while "The Finest Hours" was: "The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952."  Both are really well-done films that have similar stories, but "Finest Hours" was the one that actually happened.

Taking into account this is a real-life tale, you're really inspired by Bernie's determination and desire to rescue these men that he's never met before.  His type is a dying breed, as it seems people are becoming more and more self-centered and won't even do the smallest things to help another person.  He's a true hero, as are police officers, firemen, military people and other citizens who run into the face of danger instead of running away.  This is the true heart of the film, and it beats loudly and proudly.

The Summary:
Even though it tries to introduce a love story, "The Finest Hours" is best when it's out to sea, and shows the truly indelible spirit of a real hero.

The Score: A-