Plot
Based on the 1820 event, a whaling ship is preyed upon by a giant whale, stranding its crew at sea for 90 days, thousands of miles from home.
Release Year: 2015
Rating: 7.5/10 (4,617 voted)
Critic's Score: 50/100
Director: Ron Howard
Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson
Storyline
In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. "In the Heart of the Sea" reveals the encounter's harrowing aftermath, as the ship's surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down.
Writers: Charles Leavitt, Charles Leavitt
Cast: Chris Hemsworth -
Owen Chase
Benjamin Walker -
George Pollard
Cillian Murphy -
Matthew Joy
Brendan Gleeson -
Tom Nickerson
Ben Whishaw -
Herman Melville
Michelle Fairley -
Mrs. Nickerson
Tom Holland -
Thomas Nickerson
Paul Anderson -
Caleb Chappel
Frank Dillane -
Henry Coffin
Joseph Mawle -
Benjamin Lawrence
Edward Ashley -
Barzillai Ray
Sam Keeley -
Ramsdell
Osy Ikhile -
Richard Peterson
Gary Beadle -
William Bond
Jamie Sives -
Cole
Taglines:
From the director of Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind.
Trivia:
Reunites cast members Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson and Charlotte Riley, who all appeared in 'Peaky Blinders' (2013). See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 6/10
In the Heart of the Sea is an Action/Adventure/Biopic based on the real
disaster that inspired Herman Melville's 'Moby-Dick'. The film follows
the voyage of the 'Essex', a whaling ship that was bought down in 1820
by a Sperm Whale in the South Pacific, and is a tale of Adventure,
Drama, Survival and Boredom. Obviously the main reason I and most other
people wanted to go and see this movie was to see this massive whale go
toe to toe with the Essex and its crew. Actual confrontations with the
whale in this film were few and far between but when they happen, man
do they make an impact. This whale was ginormous, he was grand and it
was such a spectacle seeing this huge beautiful whale on screen. The
way they emphasise his size through juxtaposing him with the boats
gives his presence much more weight. Confrontations with the whale were
intense and serious edge-of-seat stuff. The CGI effects of this whale
were beautiful and incredibly detailed. This would have taken up a huge
chunk of the budget as making this whale look as realistic as possible
was crucial to the enjoyment of the film. Some of the CGI in the wide
shots were well done, but there were still quite a few scenes and wide
shots throughout the film, especially in Nantucket that really just
didn't look right and did take me out of the film.
The film's biggest problem over the entire film was the pacing and the
negative effect that had on my overall enjoyment of the film. This was
a lot of the time a very slow film, especially at the beginning where
the first 20 minutes or so was very dreary and quite boring. Throughout
the film there are quite a few uninteresting moments that constantly
just make you lose interest. The biggest culprit of these boring sleep
inducing moments were the scenes that are showing Thomas Nickerson
(Brendan Gleeson) recounting the events of the film to Herman Melville.
Scenes like this are nothing new and have been done in countless films
before this, but they were just completely uninteresting and didn't
really add anything to the actual story of the film. I guess they were
trying to get us to care about his character and his younger self for
what he endured but for me at least i could have done without those
scenes and it would have cut at least 15 minutes of its long 2 hour
runtime and the film would have flowed better and quicker. There was
one bit of dialogue early on that i thought spoiled how the film was
going to end, but it was a very good piece of misdirection by the
writers, if it was intentional.
Acting wise, the film was pretty good. Chris Hemsworth was the obvious
standout, he was able to show off his acting talents quite a few times
throughout the film, but still it was nothing amazing. The supporting
cast was also mostly pretty strong, Benjamin Walker and our friendly
neighbourhood Tom Holland were good, not great, just good strong
performances. Ron Howard did a pretty good job directing the film, most
of the time he nailed the tone of the film. The dramatic action scenes
were filmed and directed in a very frantic and chaotic manner that
upped the stakes during those intense moments. Especially in the latter
portions of the film he does represent the sad tones and emotion pretty
well and handles some very confronting scenes in a way that isn't too
disturbing but also isn't sugar-coated. The latter half of the film
although not free of some boring moments does pick up significantly
from the first half when it introduces some survival elements. It
doesn't really end on a high note, it should have been a short and
sweet ending but it is dragged out a little longer and just ended up
being alright.
In the end, this is an Action/Adventure that has its intense, dramatic
moments, but is not without some boring moments that if excluded could
have kept the film to like 1 hour and 40 minutes and would have made it
more enjoyable and impactful. If you are fascinated of the story of
Moby-Dick then you will probably get more out of the film than i did
but it really wasn't as great as it was meant to be. - 6/10
Also this film believe it or not was supposed to release way back in
March of 2015, but it was pushed back to December into Awards season to
possibly get some Oscar recognition. Should have stayed in March
because i'll be genuinely surprised if this even gets nominated for any
awards when you consider all of the other great stuff from this year.
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