In the Heart of the Sea

"Gone fishin', aren't we?"

Filmology Rating: 2.25 out of 4

Staring Chris Hemsworth and directed by Ron Howard, In the Heart of the Sea brings to life the epic tale of Moby Dick and the amazing survival of the people involved. However, this epic tale doesn't quite meet the epic movie experience that they were shooting for. To start off, there are a lot of obvious green screen shots that they throw at you for the first few scenes and it got really irritating for me. Not a huge deal but its obvious if you are looking for it. The special effects for the whales in this movie were very well done but there were a lot of basic shots on land that felt awkward. After leaving land and setting sail, we have the first act of the movie that is both exciting and interesting to watch. You get to see a very disgusting, intriguing, and sad scene of when they hunt a whale and kill it and then are getting the whale oil out of the belly.... That was both gross and intriguing because I have never seen that on film before. Soon after, Moby Dick enters the movie and this whole scene of him attacking the ship was very well done. It was exciting and visually appealing to watch. However, after watching this first act come to a close, the pacing of the movie changes drastically. We now have to sit and watch these people suffer for the next half of the movie and it is difficult to watch (Based off a true story so no fault of there own. These events actually did happen. However I just think a lot of people kind of lost some interest that they had in the first act of the film). However it is not as difficult to watch as it could have been. I mean that in the sense of these men are out at sea stranded for 90 days. It felt like they were just showing us that they were stuck out there but rarely did I feel like I was out there with them. They really never put us in the head of the people stuck out in the middle of the ocean 2,000 miles from land. I really wish they would've dived in and opened up their thoughts for us. I feel they missed the mark on really pushing through the horrendous events these men went through. This movie is not without its perks though! Like I said, the whales and Moby Dick I thought were really well done. They created a very intimidating, beat up, beast of a whale that was very cool to see. Made you almost root for him to get revenge on the boat. Chris Hemsworth is joined with a few other actors that you will recognize and I feel that they did a good job. Nothing out of the ordinary but I feel they meet their mark. So maybe I was just in good mood while watching the movie, or the fact that I did a book report back in the day on these events, but I would have to say go see it in theaters if you would like but no need to rush over and see it.

Rating: Rent It 

-Nick