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| Courtesy of Warner Bros. |
In
the Heart of the Sea, Ron Howard’s take on the true story that inspired Herman
Melville’s fictional Moby Dick, is a throwback to seafaring adventures of
another era. However, it ends up being incredibly riveting and authentic thanks
to modern advances in filmmaking technology. Marrying the two different tones
and styles must’ve been difficult, but Howard and his screenwriter, Charles
Leavitt, transform them into a surprisingly effective piece of entertainment.
What’s
more, I genuinely enjoyed watching the movie in 3D, something I don’t say too
often. It makes sense, considering that some of Howard’s previous work proves
he knows his way around CGI. He has experience using technology to enhance his
story, which is so much better than adding bells and whistles solely to pad the
film’s bottom line.
The
story (based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s book) is fairly straightforward, depicting
the stunning tale of the Essex, a whaling ship brought down by one of the very
creatures it set out to hunt. As with most tragedies, emotions like greed,
pride and envy result in a disaster that kills several people.
In
the Heart of the Sea opens with Melville (Ben Whishaw), seeking inspiration,
begging to interview the last surviving crew member of the Essex. Tom Nickerson
(Brendan Gleeson) is an older man now, clearly haunted by the demons of his
past. After some coaxing from his wife (Michelle Fairley), the former whaler
begins to unburden his soul.
His
story begins off the coast of Nantucket in the summer of 1819. As the Essex
prepares for its journey across the sea, the vessel’s experienced first mate,
Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth), and its untested captain, George Pollard
(Benjamin Walker), find themselves in a battle of wills. Their quest for power
leads the ship and its crew into a crippling storm, and then into
rarely-traveled waters home to the great beast that marks their ship for
destruction.
And
that’s just the first half of the movie. After that, viewers experience the
aftermath of the Essex’s sinking, as the surviving crew squeezes into three
tiny lifeboats and brave months stranded at sea. They must brave storms,
starvation, panic and despair, all because they chased their greed to places
they were specifically warned not to go.
I’ll
admit In the Heart of the Sea gets off to a shaky start. The initial bookend
segment, which you’ve seen in countless other movies, seemed like a tired way
to tell the story. Fortunately, Whishaw (nearly unrecognizable) and Gleeson are
phenomenal actors who elevate the material and instill their characters with
compelling personalities.
I
was also nervous in the first couple of flashback scenes, which contain some
distressingly cartoonish CGI and Hemsworth trying out a laughably terrible New
England accent. But after the first 20 minutes or so, the scenery starts
looking more realistic and Hemsworth adopts the generic American accent that British
and Australian actors traditionally utilize. (If you choose to see the movie in
3D, that’s also about the time your body gets over that fake-seasick feeling.)
Once
the second act kicks in, my uneasiness disappeared and I began to enjoy the
old-school adventure story (which seems to be making a comeback between this
film and next month’s The Revenant) and the melodramatic acting showcase.
Hemsworth and Walker (a Cartersville native with local roots) are great
together, both doing their best to establish reasonable motivations for why Chase
and Pollard – both highly unlikable at times – would behave as they do.
I appreciated
the screenplay’s insistence on making Pollard an actual character, rather than
a stereotypical bad guy. It would’ve been a lot easier to portray him as a
cartoon villain, but eliminating Pollard’s own fears and insecurities would’ve erased
any sense of nuance and hurt the story.
The
rest of the supporting cast is also strong, especially the engaging Cillian
Murphy (in a rare non-psycho role) as Chase’s oldest friend; Tom Holland
(future Spider-Man) as the fresh-faced, teenage version of Nickerson; and
Fairley as Nickerson’s no-nonsense wife. Howard also makes the whaling scenes absolutely
riveting, particularly the stunning attack that serves as the film’s biggest setpiece.
Looks like he remembered some of the kinetic techniques he utilized for Rush, his massively underappreciated 2013 racing drama that also starred Hemsworth.
In
the Heart of the Sea probably won’t end up on many critic’s Top 10 lists in
the coming weeks, but it’s a thrilling adventure story that’s definitely worth
seeing on the big screen. And if it inspires a few people to pick up Melville’s
classic novel for the first time, even better.
In
the Heart of the Sea is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and peril,
brief startling violence, and thematic material.
Grade:
B
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