In the Heart of the Sea
In The Heart of the Sea
The story of two tales.
We live in an age of ecological awareness. A time where we are seeing the destruction we as a civilization have done to bring this one planet of ours to a place of disappearing species, and global warming with no end in sight. Perhaps that is what director Ron Howard wanted to express in this, his most recent film. However in doing so he tried to weave fact and fiction threads into a tapestry that in a way ended up looking more like a machine made second level rug from Target. The film is based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s 2000 nonfiction best seller buy the same name. In the book Philbrick sources Nikerson’s published accounts of the loss of the ship “Essex” sunk by a whale and the ordeal the crew endured while out at see.
The film begins on a Nantucket night in 1850, Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) knocks on the door of Tom Nickerson played by Brendan Gleeson. Nickerson is a retired seaman who was a teenager and one of just a few survivors of the doomed whaling ship the Essex. Nickerson is on emotional lockdown and despite Melville offering a small fortune for his account, the seaman turns him away only to be convinced by his wife that they need the money and that it’s time for him to let go and let the world know of what really happened. The story told begins in 1819 with the mention of the ships first mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) and the politics behind the whaling industry.
The film, although has high caliber acting with just as impressive special effects just seems to never really take off. Mr. Howard tried his best to make the characters in the film likeable and does a good job of it, but with constant interruptions and switching from action to the story telling between Nickerson and Melville. The action is on point and the director puts you right in the middle of it by using quick whips of the camera and crashing waves only to be taken out of the storm and into the small Nantucket room where Melville is eagerly writing the accounts verbatim. With two stories being told at the same time the movie loses momentum. The viewer becomes separated from the characters and just loses interest, which leaves the film feeling flat. Although this film did a great job with scenery and time period accents, the digital effects look artificial and pull you out, making you question if anything in the film is actually factual. By the end of the film the only memorable things are the environmentally conscious quotes like “we’re in the oil business” making this film less of an epic adventure story and more of a green peace ad.
In the end In the Heart of the Sea is a film that never really adheres the many stories it tried to tell. Mr. Howard’s past films are memorable for that b-movie pulp side to story telling which did not have any room in this film. Although there are a few intense moments in the end the film lacks an actual solid feel.
5/10
In the Heart of the Sea is Rated PG-13
Hiram Trillo
