Review of In the Heart of the Sea (2015) by Ola G — 01 Sep 2016

In 1850, author Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) visits innkeeper Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson), the last survivor of the whaleship Essex's last voyage, offering money in return for his story. Nickerson initially refuses, but finally agrees when his wife intervenes. Nickerson´s story begins in 1820: a whaling company in Nantucket has refitted the Essex to participate in the lucrative whale oil trade, and 14-year-old Nickerson signs on as a cabin boy. The owners hire veteran whaler Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) as first mate, though he is disappointed not to receive a captain's commission. The captain is George Pollard Jr. (Benjamin Walker), an inexperienced mariner from an established whaling family who envies Chase's skill and popularity. Chase and Pollard clash, leading Pollard to sail into a storm against Chase's advice, nearly sinking the ship. The two agree to put their differences aside rather than risking their reputations by returning to port without profit, and soon, the crew kills their first whale, a bull sperm whale. Three months pass with no further successes, however, and Pollard realizes that the Atlantic Ocean holds no sighting of whales. The Essex sails past Cape Horn to the Pacific, hoping for better luck in catching one. In Atacames, Ecuador, the officers meet a Spanish captain who tells them his crew found the bountiful "Offshore Grounds" 2,000 miles to the west, but claims that a vengeful "white whale" destroyed his ship, killing six of his men. Disbelieving the story, Pollard and Chase leads the expedition west. They find the undisturbed grounds, but when they launch the whaling boats, the white whale, a massive albino bull sperm whale attacks, damaging the boats and turning on the ship...

"Moby Dick" is the famous adventure of a whaling ship and its crew, hunting the legendary white whale. However, before Herman Melville wrote this book in 1850, the American author had received the inspiration for his classic from a real life whaling expedition thirty years prior which is told in "In The Heart Of The Sea". Ron Howard knows his line of work, both technically and how you tell a tale. However, he is also a director of few surprises, as he rather go the safe way and has mostly done in his career. Howard always manages to re-create an authentic atmosphere no matter what century we are taken to, but with that said Howard miss also out on adding a strong emotional impact you really need in these sort of dramatic adventures. There´s nothing that really stays and there´s no real memorable moments in "In The Heart Of The Sea". It´s a solid handcraft, it´s technically proficient and the actors do a reasonably fine job, but nothing more. The cinematography and the CGI is fine, but when the spark and excitement is missing the film just goes in one eye and out the other. "In The Heart Of The Sea" is a generic and forgettable Hollywood action/adventure.