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The big one is here!
Nope, not Star Wars which is still some days away. Instead, ‘the big one’ refers to the giant sperm whale which destroys the good ship Essex and sets in motion a series of dramatic events that, although undoubtedly Hollywood-ified, retells the famous real-life odyssey of the crew.
Much like this journey itself, In the Heart of the Sea features numerous adrenaline-fuelled highs but some insufferable lows too. It’s a perfect summary of director Ron Howard’s career, a bonafide mixed bag.
After the Essex, a Nantucket ship that has been on the whaling trail for years, is smashed to kindling by the beast in 1820, the crew’s sad fate is documented as they get stranded at sea for months and resort to such gruesome acts as cannibalism to remain alive.
The actual story was the basis of Herman Melville’s literary masterpiece Moby-Dick, and the film shamelessly cashes in on this nugget by framing the tale around the man himself (he’s played by Ben Whishaw), who interviews the ship’s last survivor Tom Nickerson (Gleeson) three decades later.
This allows the story to be told in flashbacks, and the tension and drama is ramped up as Nickerson omits certain details until really pushed, thanks to his traumatic experience.
The rest of the movie focuses on Owen Chase (Hemsworth), the ship’s first mate who spends the first half smarting over being denied the chance to take the rudder, and his conflict with the new and inexperienced captain George Pollard Jr (Walker), and the second half trying desperately to survive the grizzly shipwrecked situation in which he and his mates find themselves.
The film is at its strongest during the frantic action sequences, as the beast from beneath the waves thrashes and crashes through the ocean, taking ship and man along with it. There’s a slight overabundance of CGI that kills the tension, but for the majority the cinematography is stunning, and the frenetic mixture of camera angles (there’s close-ups, off-centre shots, pans and shaky cam often in the same sequence) heightens the action.
The quieter moments of reflection during Melville and Nickerson’s interview are interspersed perfectly to give the film room to breathe and the emotion of the arduous journey sink in.
Hemsworth has, by far, the most important and heavily-featured role and he carries the weight of the situation on his shoulders with authority and charisma. He should be used to that by now thanks to his role as Thor, and I’m sure the females in the audience will be delighted at the numerous shots of him looking rugged and battered by the sea water.
I’m not so sure about his New England accent though. I’m by no means an expert on US accents, but it seems to change multiple times in the same scene.
There are a few major annoyances too; starting with director Howard reminding us constantly that this is his first 3D film. He takes every opportunity to throw masts, ropes, water spray and more at the audience during the opening salvo with the whale. Watching it in 2D, it was really disconcerting and plain annoying after a certain point.
Secondly, there is an over-abundance of modern sensibilities in the pursuit of whales. Whaling was one of the biggest industries in the world during the time the film is set, and it made a lot of ship-owners and crew members extremely rich. Therefore, the camera lingering on whale corpses as if this was an advert for PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) latest campaign is entirely incongruous, and seeing characters with harpoon in hand with almost devastated looks on their faces as they hit their mark is just unrealistic when in reality they’d be seeing dollar signs and success in their eyes.
Overall though, the film hits its emotional highs, particularly in the fantastic ‘later day’ scenes and during the latter stages of the movie as the stranded crew’s situation gets bleaker. There’s a few niggles that stops it from being outstanding, but it should be enough to tide film fans over for another week or so …
