Movie Title: In the Heart of the Sea
Director: Ron Howard
Date Released: December 11th, 2015
Date Seen: December 2th, 2015 – Screening Event
Seen With: Daniel
Part 1 – Spoiler Free Review
I got free tickets to go see this movie, and it was one that I was semi-interested in seeing. It was the idea of the plot I was ok. I loved Rush, also directed by Ron Howard, and his movies are generally very well acted and gorgeous so figured why not.
The plot surprised me, I knew it was a frame story, with Herman Melville being played by Ben Whishaw, hearing the fantastic tale of the Essex from one of the crew many years after the events. The story would become that of Moby Dick. So despite having a general idea of what would happen in the story (oh, you know, giant evil whale blah blah), it still managed to keep me on my toes. This was in part due to the extremely well written characters. Even the jerk/asshole characters you understood for the most part where they were coming from and they were a necessary part of the story. This was also helped out by the phenomenal acting in this movie. Chris Hemsworth plays Owen Chase, first mate on the Essex, and is one of the main characters. He goes through a physical transformation that is frightening to see – especially if you think of his physique in Thor. But he does a fantastic job. Tom Holland plays Thomas Nickerson, a young deck hand on the boat. He was a nice surprise, considering that thus far he hasn’t been in a large amount of acting roles (though he is going to be Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War). The other standouts are Cillian Murphy playing Matthew Joy, a long time friend of Owen Chase, and Benjamin Walker as George Pollard, the captain of the Essex. Walker definitely took a step up from Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
I was correct in that this movie would be gorgeous. From the scenes just looking at a boat on the water, or close up action shots on the boat, everything had something beautiful to look at. The colors were fantastic, going between scenes of deep blues and greens typically when there was ocean turmoil to the oranges, yellows, and golds, later on in the movie. It kept the movie looking pretty even when there were horrors going on screen. The sounds in the movie were also fantastic, and they added a nice level of realism to the movie that sometimes is lost. There’s a scene early on when they’re boarding the ship, and the amount of different sounds going on in the shipyard, the conversations, the water sounds, the boat sounds, the people, etc. really makes you feel like you’re there. It also continues throughout the movie.
All in all I was expecting to like this movie, but come out very impressed and happy that I saw the movie. I thought it was a great movie that I would definitely go see again. See it on the big screen if you can, it’s definitely worth the money.
Part 2 – Spoilers Review
I can’t think of anything spoilery I’d like to say at the moment.
Overall – 8/10
Beautifully shot and acted, good pace of the movie, while managing to keep you on your toes despite having an idea of where the story is headed.
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