In the Heart of the Sea (2015) Review!!!

Synopsis – Based on the 1820 event, a whaling ship is preyed upon by a sperm whale, stranding its crew at sea for 90 days, thousands of miles from home.

My Take – Taking the true story of a giant, albino sperm whale that once wrecked a ship full of sailors and stranded the few survivors at sea and turning it into a powerful drama about the perils of asserting human dominance over nature seems like a great idea. That’s why author Herman Melville already did it in his 1851 novel Moby Dick, which has since earned its place as one of the great triumphs of American literature (or any other kind for that matter). Nope, this film is not based on the classic ‘Moby Dick‘. Instead, it is based on Nathaniel Philbrick‘s non-fiction book of the same name, which was itself drawn from real events surrounding the Nantucket whaling ship Essex that was allegedly sunk by a giant sperm whale in the western Pacific on November 20, 1820. Out of the 21 men who made it out alive, only eight eventually survived the ordeal in the open sea, and there are accounts from two – one, the ship’s first mate Owen Chase; and two, a 14-year-old cabin boy named Thomas Nickerson who waited 55 years to write his side of the story which ended up lost until 1980. It really takes guts to make a film like this, which now tells the “based on a true” story that inspired the “based on a true” story Moby Dick. It’s one thing to piece the original events together for historical posterity and another thing to do exactly what Herman Melville did in the first place. Directed by the old-school genre filmmaker Ron Howard, it has action, drama and humanity in equal measure. Ron Howard has essentially thrown a gauntlet back in time and said, “Mr. Melville, I can do better.”. Unexpectedly for a film about men who kill whales for a living, Howard even manages to deliver an ecological message about exploiting the earth’s natural resources. Needless to say, he has not done better!. This is without a doubt an impressive production – so impeccably designed you can practically taste the seawater – but it’s a stuffy and poorly paced narrative that never follows through on its early potential. If Howard had dedicated himself towards actually adapting Moby Dick this film might have been a classic, but instead his cast is adrift in perfunctory dialogue and dreary plots and a message that couldn’t have been more obvious if the last lines of dialogue had spelled it out for us like we were children.

And that happens anyway. Don’t get me wrong, the film is not bad, well its not good either, its stuck somewhere in an oblivion between the two. The whole film is something we’ve all seen before, and not just because we’ve read Moby Dick or seen its other adaptations. It’s a ho-hum drama about clashing machismo, punctuated by one exciting catastrophe, and then followed by a sun stroked (and damn near interminable) second half in which all the surviving sailors are marooned at sea. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have been more interesting. There’s a reason why Herman Melville fictionalized this story into Moby Dick, and it wasn’t to protect the identity of an old drunk. It was because these events were more interesting when they were filtered through the mind of an artist with fascinating characters to explore, and meaningful things to say. The film may have nifty production design, but that’s hardly a substitute. The story follows Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth), the first mate of a whaling ship that set sail from Nantucket Island in 1820. Narrated by the only survivor of the ship Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson) to the author Melville (Ben Whishaw). It is Nickerson’s narration that brings us back to 1820 Nantucket, where we are first introduced to Chase, a proud whaler excited at the prospect of commanding his own ship. Alas, its business owners who had before promised Owen his boat decide to make him nursemaid Pollard (Benjamin Walker), whose only qualification is that his father is the company’s patron. Despite his frustration and his wife’s (Charlotte Riley) reservations about that particular expedition, Owen eventually sets sail with George and the rest of the crew, which includes his best friend Matthew Joy (Cillian Murphy), the young Nickerson (Tom Holland, or soon-to-be ‘Spidey’), and George’s cousin Owen Coffin (Frank Dillane). As expected, tension soon builds between the experienced first mate and the inexperienced but eager-to-prove-himself captain. In the first of three major action sequences, George orders the Essex to sail head on into a squall against Owen’s advice as a test of mettle for the crew, an ill decision that almost capsizes the ship and seemingly pits the two men squarely against each other. Thrilling as that setup may be, Charles Leavitt‘s screenplay gives the officer- versus-officer conflict short shrift in the later acts. Losing no momentum, Owen soon chances upon the sound of whales exhaling air through their blowholes; how Owen and his men kill and capture a full-grown male is shown in exhilarating detail, as much as the later operation to harvest its fats for oil is displayed in full gory glory (especially a sequence where the young Nickerson is thrust down a hole in the whale’s head to scoop out the prized sperm oil). Yet, bad luck immediately after forces George to bring the Essex into uncharted waters to hunt for pods, and the last of the big-bang sequences you’ll get is the encounter with the big one, described by a Spanish captain the crew meet on a stopover at Atacames who lost his arm and six other men as measuring almost 100 meters in length and whose hide is alabaster white. Notwithstanding that it is a classical framing device for a tall tale, there is no denying that these portions are redundant and quite the unnecessary distraction in between critical points of the Essex’s doomed voyage, redeemed only somewhat by Gleeson‘s performance of such dignity and sadness at the dire circumstances that he had to confront in order to survive on few provisions for 90 days. 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 emphasize 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. In the absence of more compelling character drama, all we are left with is an old-fashioned seafaring adventure and an ageless tale of men forced to do the unthinkable in order to survive the odds of nature.

Being the consummate storyteller he is, Howard excels in both regards, and there is never a dull moment in his film. Yet, as much as this story of ordinary men pitted against their own moral fiber fits squarely within Howard‘s comfort zone, it ultimately comes up much less because it fails to define the men themselves, or their reason for going at each other. 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 run-time 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. Hemsworth‘s dramatic weight loss to play a sunken Owen is clearly evident, as is the dedication by the other cast members to portray their characters’ afflictions with utmost realism. Yet, coming after films such as ‘Castaway‘ or even ‘Life of Pi’, we’d be lying if we said it was new or surprising. Both of those movies however managed a deeper emotional resonance because they gave us characters which we actually care about, the same of which cannot be said here. Owen’s obsession with the giant whale that seems to be following them is never quite explained, nor for the matter why the animal shown to evoke some sort of mythical terror would do so. How the friction between Owen and George gives way to mutual respect is also glossed over, and the same goes for the discord between George and his cousin whom the former lectures earlier for abusing familial privilege. The supporting cast was also mostly pretty strong, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy and 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. On the whole, ‘In the Heart of the Sea‘ is an average old-fashioned sea adventure that could do with a lot more character work & better proceedings. Director Ron Howard‘s Man-versus-Nature saga finds its own heart somewhat lost at sea. 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.