In The Heart Of The Sea | Film Review

I can remember, quite vividly, sitting in my university class years ago.  It was first year American Literature, and I was feeling pretty darned good.  As an avid reader, I sat at my desk with a wholly confident grin on my face: ‘This was going to be breeze’.  All I had to do was read a few books, pop out a few papers, and I was practically guaranteed an easy ‘A’.  Hell, maybe even an ‘A+’.

Oh, how my heart sank when our professor entered the room, his tweed covered arms loaded down with a wobbling stack of tomes that was easily half my height.  He plopped them down on the table at the head of the class and surveyed his most recent, fresh-faced charges with tired eyes that reflected that this was a routine he had been through maybe too many times.  Satisfied we had all gotten a good gander at what was to come, he informed us that the ten great written works we saw towering before us were to be read completely before semester’s end.  There would be a midterm test and a final; tests where the questions would refer to such obscure passages from the books that it would do us no good to bother with the Coles Notes (the go-to of the last resort for many English majors over the decades) versions.  They wouldn’t be of any help at all.  He then passed the books out so we could have a taste of what would surely consume many a late-night hour to come over the next three and a half months.  The first to reach the hands of my now much less confident self was Herman Melville’s much lauded classic “Moby Dick”.  Boy, did it feel heavy.  I opened it up to the first page and gazed upon that beginning sentence that so many know so well:  “Call me Ishmael”.

Not to dawdle too long, let’s just say that was the extent of my relationship with Mister Melville and Ishmael.  By the end of the week, I had transferred into another class (ultimately the right move), and aside from fleeting moments over the years, I never really gave “Moby Dick” another thought.

Until now.

Ron Howard’s “In The Heart Of The Sea” is not an adaptation of “Moby Dick”.  Rather, it is based on the harrowing true story of the early 19^th century whaling ship, The Essex, and her crew who served as Melville’s inspiration for the beloved novel.  Prior to watching the film, I read up a bit on what had really happened on that doomed voyage and found it to be as horrifying as anything I have ever read: non-fiction or otherwise.  The story of what those men went through is one for the ages, and they truly deserve a masterful retelling of what they endured.

Sadly, this is not it.

The movie opens with a young Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) arriving at the bleak abode of the aged Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson), the last surviving crew member of The Essex.  Nearly half a century has passed since that fateful voyage, and Melville has come in search of much needed inspiration.  In this telling, the true facts of what really happened to the Essex and those onboard has been covered up with lies so as to preserve the bulging purses of the whaling company owners at the time.  Melville wants – no, he needs – the real story.  Nickerson is reluctant at first, but after some not so gentle prodding from his wife (Michelle Fairley), he gives in and agrees to spend the evening with Melville and reveal the grim details of what really transpired.  By the light of dwindling candles, and over glasses of cheap spirits, the real story begins.

The year is 1819 and Nantucket, Massachusetts is a boomtown, riding high on the liquid gold that is whale oil.  Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth), a young but experienced whaler, is riding high on life.  With his loving wife expecting their first child, he is off to town confident that he is about to receive his first command of a whaling ship.  To his obvious dismay, he soon learns that he will not be receiving the position that was promised to him, but will instead act as first mate to George Pollard (Benjamin Walker), the silver spoon fed son of the company’s owner.  Though ready to quit then and there, Chase eventually gives in and agrees to serve under a “green hand” who has no experience at the position that has been bestowed upon him.  This is just the first of many misfortunes which will befall Chase and those around him, culminating in – but not limited to – an encounter with a denizen of the deep that, till now, has existed only as a tale told in hushed tones by superstitious men of the sea.

I am usually a sucker for these kinds of stories.  Having grown up in a fishing village on a remote island in the North Atlantic, I feel it is in my nature to be drawn to yarns of the sea and the brave souls who dare to challenge it.  It can be a hard life on the open waters.  The movie shows us that – the months and years separated from loved ones, the dangers that lurk behind even the most mundane of onboard tasks, the deadly fickleness of Mother Nature – and the filmmakers are to be commended for their attention to detail.  Director Ron Howard and his production team have done a commendable job at recreating life as it must have been in the early years of the 1800s for these sailors.  There are images here of historical beauty that are sure to bring a smile to many.  However, anything can be dressed up to look pretty.  It isn’t until one gets to see into the guts of a thing that you truly gain an appreciation for it, and that is where the problems with “In The Heart Of The Sea” lie: in its guts.

I am truly taken aback at how little I felt while watching this.  This is supposed to be one of the greatest nautical stories of death, disaster, and survival ever told; and yet it barely got a rise out of me.  It came close on occasion, real damn close.  There were moments where I leaned forward in anticipation – the old heart rate starting to tick up a couple of notches – only to have the wind taken out of my sails as I slowly sank back into my seat.  I was watching monstrous seas tearing a ship apart, majestic beasts leaping from the depths, men clashing with adversaries both human and leviathan, acts of desperation that would horrify you at their mere mention, but – when all was said and done – I felt…..nothing.  It was like I wasn’t watching a movie.  Instead, I was peering into a viewmaster, watching beautiful, vibrant pictures flick by; the awe and emotion of each successive image lost somewhere in the tiny pieces of white plastic that separated the individual frames.

Ron Howard is very hit-and-miss with me.  Sometimes he nails it (“Ransom”, “Apollo 13”) and other times he drops the ball (“Far and Away”, “The Grinch”).  He is certainly capable of triggering our emotions, but the hammer has fallen on an empty chamber here.

Not all of the fault lies with the director.  Chris Hemsworth continues to be an actor who appears lost.  I like the guy – and he is talented – but outside of his role as Thor in the Marvel movies, he has yet to present me with a portrayal that makes me go, ‘Yeah, now that’s what I’m talking about!’.  I can’t help but feel that his future success lies in comedic roles, and that is certainly an element that is not on display here.  The character of Owen Chase is presented as a rock of a man, and that’s about as far as it goes.  Hemsworth has that part nailed down pat, anyways.  His expressions of love and compassion hit the same notes as they do in every other movie he’s been in.  It’s not the character I’m seeing.  It’s good old Chris.  His anguish, on the other hand, comes across as painfully forced.  There is a moment late in the film, when things are particularly dire, where I squirmed at how much he was ‘acting’.  I know that sounds like an odd thing to say – odd, but true – and I’m sure you’ll understand what I mean when you see it.  Losing a bunch of weight and growing your hair long is all well and fine, but it all comes back to the guts.  That’s where the feelings and the performance really come from.

The standout performances in this belong to Benjamin Walker as the green Captain and Cillian Murphy as Matthew Joy, Owen’s longtime shipmate and dear friend.  Murphy brought a lot to the little he was given, and if there’s anyone in this movie that’s going to make you give a damn, it’s him.  For most of the movie, I hated Benjamin Walker’s character.  From the beginning on up to until the middle of the movie, I thought he was just another clichéd foil for the hero to butt heads with and ultimately put down.  To my pleasant surprise, that was not to be and it is actually him that gets that moment that makes you pump your fist and scream ‘Yes!’.  That should have belonged to Hemsworth, but I’ll take what I can get.

The rest of the cast do their best with the little time that’s given to them.  I should also give a shout-out to Tom Holland who plays young Thomas Nickerson.   He’s a hell of an actor for someone his age, and I look forward to seeing more of him, especially now that he has been cast as the new Spider-Man.

As I said before, the look of the film is great, though it’s nothing we haven’t seen done before.  The long shots are masterful and there’s some great, non-CGI eye candy here.  However, when we zoom in on the smaller whaleboats – especially during the hunts – I swear some of the scenes look like something out of a sea adventure made forty or fifty years ago.  The rendering of the whales is fantastic, but it does look like a lot of this is being filmed inside a studio against backdrops.  Okay, maybe not that bad, but it is pretty noticeable.

If you’re expecting an hour or more of intense cat and mouse action across the waves, don’t be.  The actual screen time for the one hundred foot cause of all their grief amounts to probably less than ten minutes.  It’s a shame too.  When Big White (my name) pops up, it’s about the only time things get anywhere near exciting, aside from a run-in with a storm earlier on in the film.  When Big White vanishes, he really is gone, and he takes everything he brought away with him. He takes the guts.

When all is said and done, “In The Heart Of The Sea” is an empty vessel.  The only depths it plunges to are, unfortunately, literal.

I think it might be time to give Herman and Ishmael another go of it, or maybe check out the book of the same name that this is based on.  That might just be where the heart of this tale truly lies.

David McGrath
Contributing Reviewer
The Hollywood Outsider