Review of In the Heart of the Sea (2015) by Berik — 13 Feb 2020

In the Heart of the Sea tells the 'true story' behind the white whale later called Moby Dick. We follow Owen Chase, a whaler who is crossed by the Nantucket family by not granting him the title of Captain. He has to get along with Pollard, a Nantucket family member who gets to be captain by heritage. Both set out on their ship to collect Whale oil, which at that time is used to light candles. After suffering poor results in their hunt for whales, they decide to sail over a 1000 nautical miles to find a supposed hotspot of whales. Things go wrong and a great white whale sinks their ship, leaving them stranded in the middle of the pacific ocean. After facing hunger, cannibalism, insanity and thirst, they find rescue.

So, the movie tells a pretty straight forward story. It goes into surprisingly much detail at times, yet completely shies away from anything that could be R rated. The whales are all shot in CGI (no surprise there) but fail to look very realistic. At times shots are even re-used, which comes across a bit lazy. The characters all seem to lack conviction in their portrayal.

It was enjoyable to watch nonetheless. I learned more stuff about whailing. I give it a 7/10.