Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Awesome Movie

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

After watching the marvellous 1976 film Bartleby,I started looking for other Herman Melville-related projects. Trying to sail in a different direction to the famous productions of Moby Dick,I was intrigued to find a flick about the inspiration behind Melville's book,which led to me meeting the real Captain Ahab.The plot-1850:Wanting to build on the outline for his next set-at sea novel, author Herman Melville tracks down Thomas Nickerson,a former cabin boy who is the only living survivor of the sinking of the Essex. Pushed with money by Melville,Nickerson begins telling his tale.1820:Cashing in on the whale oil gold rush, whaling company includes some quick additions to the Essex so it can go whale hunting. Hiring Nickerson as a cabin boy,the company get Owen Chase as First Mate and George Pollard as Captain. Going deep into the Offshore Grounds,the crew try to catch a white whale,but fail to,and are left with a broken ship. Stranded in the middle of the sea,the crew enter the heart of darkness of the ocean.View on the film:Racing down from the race tracks of Rush with the same lead actor and cameraman,director Ron Howard & cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle ride the wave of "Golden Age" Hollywood epics, where sweeping crane shots over the beautiful Canary Islands and very well done earthy CGI make the ocean go as far across the screen as the eye can see.Harpooning the crew into the depths of the sea,Howard washes the bright blockbuster blue away for over saturated burning yellows and blood reds dehydrating any memory of adventure from the crew.Altering the fascinating real story behind Nickerson's autobiography (he wrote it in 1876,and it remained lost until 1960!) the screenplay by Charles Leavitt/ Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver brings to shore the friction Chase and Pollard over who should be the captain,whilst the crew keep their eyes on the task at hand. Carving out the boys own Adventure into incredibly dark themes that include suicide,the writers give the months lost at sea a real weight,where the dialogue,and the life drain out of the survivors.Reuniting with Howard, Chris Hemsworth gives Chase a salty gravitas,which Hemsworth uses as a uniting glue among the others. Following orders from Benjamin Walker's slick Pollard, Tom Holland wonderfully grinds down the wide-eyed innocence of young Nickerson,as he enters the belly of the beast.

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.

I am a huge fan of Moby Dick. I've taught it as a novel; I've read it several times. Its artistry is beyond measure. Herman Melville certainly knew his stuff when it came to whaling and the sea. Apparently, Melville gained his inspiration from a particular whaling voyage that produced fodder for his imagination. This film takes the fictional Melville back to the time where he heard the story of the white whale. If one looks at the book as the allegory it is, we put the stamp of whiteness and all the implications of the color (or lack of it) that it implies. This movie takes any artistry out of the story. Ahab lost his leg and pursues the elusive cetacean in the ultimate act of revenge. Here, a bunch of guys get in over their heads. They had an overzealous captain who simply was out for the commercial value of the animal. When the whale destroys the ship (they do give him supernatural powers) part of the crew is in whaleboats, trying to get someplace safe. Terrible things happen, including cannablism, and some manage to hold off their fates till they are rescued. But there is something dull about the pacing of the story. We aren't made privy to much of what goes on among them. There are the obligatory sacrifices that are not new to this genre. It's a decent movie, but a better script and some more personal depth would have helped.

Why the hell would anyone want to make a movie about how these stupid men try to kill one of the most beautiful creatures that existed The planet and are about to get FUC**NG extinct?? like what the hell......this happened about 100 years ago, and they made a movie about this!? why??? It's disgusting and horrible to see how this peaceful animals get killed... they were at the border of extinction for the freaking oil.. for humans... what the hell seriously. I saw a part of the movie, the whales were all together swimming around this freaking monsters just being beautiful beings... there was even a baby whale... i mean why putting a baby whale (even if it's by freaking computing animation) whats the point of that? ... just bad. bad movie