Too much water ... just kidding.
Inspired by true events and the 2009 book of the same name, The Finest Hours tells of how a small boat of U.S. Coast Guardsmen pulled off the most daring rescue in their service's history. Set in Massachusetts in 1952, the film follows the men aboard the USCG boat 36-500 as they set out to rescue the 30+ man crew trapped aboard the sinking SS Pendleton, an oil tanker bound for Boston that was ripped in half during one of the worst storms to ever hit the East Coast.
As Coast Guard Captain Bernie Webber, Chris Pine trades in the captain's chair of the Enterprise for the helm of the rescue boat, a woefully undersized vessel for such a large-scale rescue in seas raging with 40-60-foot waves. Casey Affleck plays Ray Sybert, the first assistant engineer and now de facto leader of the Pendelton crew. Under the direction of Craig Gillespie, both actors give very understated performances as the circumstances their characters face outweigh whatever sort of showiness they could've fallen into in different hands. Both actors approach the material as their characters must have their respective vessels: as something to steer and maintain on an even keel throughout all the turmoil raging around them.
The supporting cast boasts several familiar faces -- including Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Kyle Gallner, Graham MacTavish, John Ortiz, John Magaro, and Abraham Benrubi -- but the story simply doesn't allow them much dimension. The Pendleton crew includes the guy who complains, the affable guy who's the heart of the team, all thumbnail depictions of that sort. Even Foster isn't given much of an identity as Bernie's right-hand man, Seaman Richard Livesey, who mostly communicates in squinty glares.
The Finest Hours also chronicles Bernie's courtship of Miriam (Holliday Grainger), a local girl and phone operator who is tasked with some of the movie's more thankless scenes. Sequences of Miriam charging in to confront Bernie's USCG commanding officer (a rather miscast Bana, sporting a distracting, fake Southern accent -- yes, oddly enough in a movie full of attempted Boston accents this was the one that stood out to me as bad) and getting stuck in a snowbank just feel like filler and neither are as cinematic nor as emotional as those of the crews trying to stay alive at sea. Still, Pine and Grainger make for a sweet couple and do have some nice, quiet moments.
While the movie does a good job in capturing a sense of the post-WWII era and of reminding us that people's values and goals were simpler and more conventional than they might be today, The Finest Hours is sometimes too enamored of their old timey heroes' reserve to ever rouse enough emotion to really make you feel what it is they're going through.
The movie is surprisingly subdued for a story about the greatest USCG rescue of all time. Like its salt of the earth protagonists who refused to tout their heroism after the fact, The Finest Hours is adamantly low-key and workmanlike, which is ultimately to its detriment.
The film's heroes may have viewed their experience as another day at the office, but the audience shouldn't be left thinking of it that way. What these men did was extraordinary and courageous, and the film could've used more verve in showcasing that.
On a technical level, the film's visual effects convince you that you're really out there enduring the cold, pounding waves of the merciless and miserable Atlantic Ocean. Like The Perfect Storm, the viewer is left humbled by the ferocious power of the sea. If the Atlantic had a wallet it would be the one that said Bad Muthaf***a. The 3D, however, only darkens what is already a dim-looking picture, which is largely set at night during a winter storm.
The Verdict
You'll leave The Finest Hours admiring the real-life heroes more than you'll probably have enjoyed the movie about them. It's a good film, but one that never quite inspires in the way it could have.
Editors' Choice
→
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire