This is a slightly embellished story of the whaling ship Essex which was sunk by a Sperm Whale in 1820. This story was the inspiration for Melville's "Moby Dick." In the film Melville (Ben Whishaw) interviews the adult Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson) who spends his time in a bottle and is reluctant to tell his tale of woe. However his fourth wife (Michelle Fairley) convinces him because of their pecuniary predicament. Thomas was a 14 year old "Greenhorn" (Tom Holland) at the time and tells the story as a conflict between the privileged captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) and a disgruntle first mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) who was promised his own ship. As Pollard remarks, "Some are born to the job, some born into it." Thomas experiences his first "Nantucket sleigh ride" and gets to do all the dirty jobs.If you know the story they encounter a "demon" whale who hunts and haunts them.The story was well done and well acted if slightly inaccurate. Both Chase and Nickerson wrote accounts of the story and Melville used Chase's account for his inspiration. The interview appears to be fiction. There is a late emotional scene involving the Captain's cousin that wasn't quite accurate, but the results were the same.Good sea drama and half decent action flick.

A prequel to a work of fiction. The conflict between the captain and first mate, mentioned near the beginning of the movie is not borne out by the rest of the movie. In fact, all the characters are secondary to the whale whose presence dominates the story. It's all about the whale that refuses to die and trashes an entire ship. The movie does a good job in depicting the challenges associated with whaling and why it was such an important industry. Chris Hemsworth offers an excellent portrayal of the first mate, Chase, who is at odds with the captain, Pollard, who got the job through nepotism. The movie tries to play up the class differences separating the two men, but the captain isn't arrogant enough nor the first mate resentful enough to generate any intense drama. Whether all the crew will survive is another question, and it is that aspect of the story that gives the movie its dramatic power. These men risked their lives to fuel the country and were the heroes of their time. The movie shows that and for that reason is worth watching.

In scene one, Herman Melville meets a whaler who tells a tale worthy of the ages. His ship was smashed in by a 100 foot white sperm whale, and the survivors were adrift at sea for weeks until they had no food left ....except each other.This medium budget sea epic from Ron Howard is not a bad movie, but it isn't any good either. In the first hour, it succeeds in building some momentum as we set out to sea with Chris Hemsworth and we sail right into a storm. To Howard's credit, he has a very distinctive way of shooting these scenes that is both immersive and allows the CGI to blend in. The picture looks as if we are seeing it through a spy glass, with drops of spray in the lens creating a surreal like soft focus. Some of this technique was visible in his previous film Rush but was less effective and resulted in a blurry picture.Hemsworth succeeds in commanding the screen with his bravado and virtuousness for a good while. Unlike in Rush, his character comes from a place of melancholy rather than ego. He is the smartest sailor on a ship that is under the command of a rookie and inexperienced captain, appointed at the request of the Whaling company. As is typical of Hollywood movies, the individuals representing commerce and industry are one dimensional and vilified. This development is as annoying as it is unnecessary.The movie has dozens of computer generated whales, which are competently rendered but animated to swim at hyper realistic, unconvincing speeds. The star of the sea is the great white whale who wreaks havoc on our small band of sailors. From this point on the movie sinks with the ship.The last act is dreary, emotional detached, and strangely paced. Potetially compelling scenes feel as if they were cut short in order to make a two hour running length. Hemsworth and his mates drift along in their whaleboats while their beards grow between the cuts, and the giant whale pops up a few more times to attack. One problem is that this Moby Dick doesn't have enough sense of menace; he never shows his teeth (both literally and figuratively). Melville's Moby Dick was a beast, this whale is just an animal.As a tale of survival, In the Heart of the Sea feels lacking because it feels rushed. The material may have been better suited to a three part mini-series, a format that would give the characters more room to breath. In a good survival tale, the characters come away finding their humanity or something meaningful, none of that is visible here. Instead, the punchline of the film is that this story was the inspiration for one of the greatest pieces of American prose. That in itself does carry some meaning, but not enough to make the film worth watching.

In the Heart of the Sea had the potential to be one of the best if not the best movie of the year. I don't know what happened, but it seemed like Little Ronny Howard tried to do new things with his direction. Allow me to explain.Synopsis: 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. Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Benjamin Walker Director: Ron HowardThe three men I posted on the starring line were the three stars of the movie, but there was quite a bit more talent involved in the movie. Enough to the point that should have made the movie great. That's not to say the acting was bad, it wasn't.The thing that made the movie a mild disappointment was the way Ronny directed the movie. For a movie that took place at sea, there was the chance of showing some epic wide shots of the action on the ship. Instead, we got some extreme close-ups that took away from the action.Then there was the CGI of the sea creatures. Someone should have known better to do what they did. The CGI just did not look good at all. There were parts where even the sea looked fake.In truth, I did not know that Moby Dick was based on a somewhat true story. So, telling this story in flashback form was the right choice. And, besides the actors involved, it was the best part of the movie. The tale of survival is a story that will live on forever.Final Thoughts: Needless to say, I was more than a little disappointed in this movie. It could have been a lot better, but we got what we got.Rating: 6 out of 10That's it for me folks. If you would like to continue to follow my post, go ahead and like this page. Go check out these sites, and don't forget to check out my books. I have added the sites to the bottom of the page.