Review of The Finest Hours (2016) by Ben L — 18 Feb 2016

When I saw the trailers for The Finest Hours I was anxious to see the film. I really enjoy Chris Pine and I thought this would give him a chance to shine as a lead in a non-Star Trek film. I was less excited about Casey Affleck having a major role because he's not one of my favorite actors, but I was still hoping the film would be a success. Well, I was surprised multiple times when I went to see this film, both positively and negatively. The movie is not a strictly Chris Pine vehicle. While his name might be top-billed, once the movie gets going the story is split between 3 main characters. In order to fully flesh out my feelings on The Finest Hours I have to address each one individually:

1. Casey Affleck as Ray Sybert - This is, by leaps and bounds, my favorite aspect of this film. My feelings for Casey Affleck were quickly put to rest because the tale of this oil tanker's crew trying to stay afloat until help could arrive was extraordinarily compelling. I loved how they had some conflict and difference of opinion, but when push came to shove they worked together to problem solve and do what was best to keep them all alive. This is the kind of stuff I love to see in a film like this, and the crew of the ship became my favorite characters in the movie.

2. Holliday Grainger as Miriam Webber - This was the most tedious aspect of The Finest Hours. I'm fine with occasionally cutting back to the people on shore in order to see their level of concern, because it can be a good reference point so we know how bad things are getting. But they include an entire story with no purpose and no resolution. I'm not sure if we're supposed to see some kind of growth in Miriam, because she goes from throwing a tantrum to patiently waiting, but whatever the purpose of this story may be it doesn't accomplish anything. They keep giving her moments, but none of them lead anywhere. She's a beautiful actress, but every single scene she was in could have been eliminated from the film and it would have worked so much better.

3. Chris Pine as Bernie Webber - I really wanted to love Bernie's story, and not just because I like Chris Pine. He does get some dramatic scenes where he is fighting the elements and showing his courage despite the circumstances. They also do a good job of showing that he is a very capable pilot of the boat, and we see how he is instrumental in keeping his team alive despite the risks of the storm. However, his character is completely neutered by the fact that everything that leads him to finding the tanker and then finding the shore is pure luck. The film desperately needed some moments where we saw how Bernie's and/or his team's actions led them to the oil tanker. This missing aspect was made even more obvious by the fact that we saw these kind of scenes occurring on the tanker. They were problem-solving and working out solutions, meanwhile Bernie was just tossing darts blindfolded and hoping they hit a target. So a robust character was reduced to being an agent of chance.

I will say the special effects were well done in The Finest Hours. They were clearly aided by the fact that the entire rescue occurs at night, so they could hide any imperfections in darkness, but it seemed very authentic. I wasn't bored by the film in any way, it had me questioning who would survive and how it all would end. I think the only real problem was in the final form of the script. If they would have dramatically reduced the scenes back on land and given Chris Pine's character a little more agency in the rescue, I think this would have been a brilliant film. But, as it stands, I cannot recommend The Finest Hours.