In the Heart of the Sea - Review

Written By:  Aaron Meyer

In the Heart of the Sea is not the retelling of the story Moby Dick, however it is about the story that inspired the tale.  This film portrays a young Herman Melville (played by Ben Wishaw) seeking out the last surviving member of a ship named The Essex.  He catches up with a much older Tom Nickerson (played by Brendan Gleeson) who was merely 14 when he was aboard the ship. After bribing Nickerson to talk about the truth of what happened upon the doomed vessel many years later, Tom's story begins and we are taken on a voyage that both excites yet leaves us wanting a bit more from legendary director Ron Howard.

The movie starts out setting a strong story.  Who hasn't head of the story of Moby Dick?  Even if you've never read the novel you are probably familiar with it's plot.  A whaling boat get sunk by an extremely large Sperm Whale during the early 1800's and one man's obsession with capturing that whale.  This movie however explores the "true life" story behind the novel.

"The story is really about two men."  begins Tom Nickerson.  "It's about Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) and George Pollard (Benjamin Walker)."  Owen Chase is a mid twenties man with a wife and a child on the way who aspires to captain his own ship.  Even after being promised by the Whale Oil company he works for that he will captain his next ship, he is bumped to First Mate after finding out that he will serve under George Pollard.  Pollard comes from a long family history of Whale Oil boat captains.  He is most definitely a "green horn" (newbie)  however is given captain of his first ship.  The much more knowledgeable and seasoned Chase lives in his shadow merely because of family name.  The tension these two share in the scenes they share together but I feel like we could have seen a little more from the two, as the story explores this in the beginning but nearly an hour into the film the two seem to be working side by side with little confrontation.

As the movie progresses and the crew eventually meets the legendary white whale that had been the cause of many sailors deaths in the past.  The action scenes involving the hunt for the whale are fun however nothing about it is super memorable and as it progresses is relatively predictable.  After this point in the film there is a discernible difference in pacing in the film that make the second half feel as though some scenes last a little longer than they should.

Visually the movie is beautiful as are most of Ron Howard's films.  There is a stark color contrast between land and the open sea.   The colors between even the sea creatures themselves and the stark blue ocean make for some beautiful scenery as well.  While the Whale is most definitely CG it does look convincing at the same time.  Little details of previous capture attempts from scars featured on its side help tell the significant encounters endured by this creature before.  I saw this movie in 3D however, as most 3D movies nowadays, it didn't add much to the overall experience.  So seeing it in 2D would be just as enjoyable.

In the end this film is a good adventure movie however it is a little light on the action in the second half.  If you're going in to this movie thinking it's going to be an action oriented movie that is similar to Jaws except with a whale instead of a shark, you will surely be disappointed.  I feel as though this is the reason most people have been giving this film such mixed reviews, which is understandable because of the marketing behind the film.  If this movie accomplished anything it makes me want to read the story of Moby Dick.

Final Score  3.5 / 5