Storyline
In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. But that told only half the story. “Heart of the Sea” reveals the encounter’s harrowing aftermath, as the ship’s surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down.
Directors
Cast
Nicholas Jones, Jordi Mollà, Paul Anderson, Brendan Gleeson, Cillian Murphy, Chris Hemsworth, Frank Dillane, Michelle Fairley, Jamie Sives, Richard Bremmer, Ben Whishaw, Donald Sumpter, Joseph Mawle, Benjamin Walker, Tom Holland, Gary Beadle, Andy Wareham, Charlotte Riley, Daniel Westwood, Hayley Joanne Bacon, Osy Ikhile, Sam Keeley, Edward Ashley, Morgan Chetcuti, Andrew Crayford, Claudia Newman
Trailer
Reviews
70
The picture is sometimes wayward and unwieldy, its dialogue creaky and awkward, like an amateur’s attempt at scrimshaw.... But in a movie climate rife with superhero reboots and rehashings of childhood favorites, it’s a small marvel that In the Heart of the Sea exists at all.
60
Director Ron Howard does a solid job of getting the smell of salt off the page and into the picture. The first half works quite well simply as a procedural, but when the action comes we run into trouble. The well-earned seriousness is washed away as we’re broadsided by B-movie tropes.
60
There’s so much incident crammed into this tale of misfortune that there’s never quite enough time to truly tangle with the sheets and sails of its meaning.
60
Given the weighty themes of Moby Dick, In The Heart Of The Sea doesn't have a lot going on behind the outward action. The composite parts are in fine working order; it's the sum that's slightly lacking.
60
Fluid, shifting and tense, the action here easily outstrips the film’s basic set-up (man tests himself against nature, is humbled), which can feel like unconvincing filler between surges of effects work.
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