Monday 21 December 2015

REVIEW: In The Heart of the Sea (3D version) (12A)

In the Heart of the Sea is a biographical movie based on the sinking of the Essex, an American Whaling ship from the 1820's. Set in "present day" 1890's-odd, writer Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) visits one of the survivors of the Essex. This leads to a flash back story about the whaling industry of 1820's America and of a gigantic whale that caused the sinking of the Essex.

Initially wanting to keep the story to himself, a now old and sad Tom (Brendan Gleeson), eventually relents to the personable Herman Melville and tells his story in great detail of the brave first mate, Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) and the fresh new captain under his first command, Captain Pollard (Benjamin Walker). the boy Tom (Tom Holland) is on the boat with these two commanders and sees the events through the eyes of a teenage boy and how dangerous and exciting whaling can be. Once the story concludes, a whistful Herman Melville says he has enough material for a story, but says he won't put everything in it. And, if legend is to be believed, that very story was the inspiration for American literary classic, Moby Dick.

Firstly, this movie was watched in 3D and I was really impressed with the 3D effects in this movie both in "present day" and in the flashbacks. The special effects are fantastic - especially with the see creatures and the boats. Ron Howard directs this, and the camera angles and swishes really have you feeling right in on the action. There is a right amount of suspense and desperation and the film really grinds home the difficult job whaling was back then.

Hemsworth's character is brash but noble and is clearly the hero of the piece. Previously, we spoke about Hemsworth in Black Hat which I found a bit lacking and I thought it was a bit of a miscast. However, he does well in this movie and plays a strong hero type - something his physique and booming voice are capable of doing.  At loggerheads with him is the Captain, who comes across as more of a hindrance than a bad guy - promoted only by nepotism and allowing him to skip rank over the more experienced Chase.

Overall the movie is a good one, with plenty of action and interesting sequences. I can imagine this is the sort of movie that excels in 3D rather than 2D and the soundtrack suits the action it accompanies.

If you fancy something a little different and fancy a time travel back to the 1820's - you won't do bad with this. it's quite good. In The Heart of The Sea is out on Boxing Day, 26th December, 2015.

POPSCORE: 7/10 


What am I talking about? In the Heart of the Sea film

Where can I find out more? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Heart_of_the_Sea_(film)
If you like this try: Jaws, The Perfect Storm, Titanic, Castaway

Anything else?
Chris Hemsworth (who plays Thor in the Marvel universe) stars in this movie alongside Tom Holland (who is due to play a teenage Spiderman in the new Marvel universe, Captain America movie in 2016!)
This is also based on a book called In The Heart Of The Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick.

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