In the Heart of the Sea

2015 • 121 minutes
4.1
2.25K reviews
43%
Tomatometer
PG-13
Rating
Eligible
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About this movie

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. “In the 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.
Rating
PG-13

Ratings and reviews

4.1
2.25K reviews
Kyle Vansteelandt
December 7, 2020
An engrossing legend that Inspired the legendary epic novel "Moby Dick," This epic historical adventure film takes place in 1920 where a whaler named Owen goes on an epic adventure with his mates led by the Captain George Pollard to kill sperm whales for oil and for riches, until one white bull sperm whale has had enough with humanity slaughtering the whale population and seeks vengeance on anyone who takes on the population or even the white whale himself. Of all the sea monsters that terrorized the sea, none were as feared as Moby Dick. Moby Dick is an enormous vengeful beast of mother nature. Moby Dick is not just any whale, Moby Dick is a bull sperm whale (white to be precise), the largest and loudest predator in the history of planet earth with the largest brain of any mammal and his massive size and brute strength are weapons of monstrous power. There isn't anything wonderful about the direction and screenplay, because most of the film goes from one shot that only lasts for seconds to another shot that lasted the same amount of time, and most of the cinematography is a bit crowded and a little up-close. That causes the execution to be relatively dull. But visually, it is so striking to look at with a color palette that goes from turquoise to yellow to make it look like an old-fashioned movie about the ocean. Sure, there are some images within the screenplay that are unforgettably impressive, Sometimes the film does calm down just a bit to give use some real cinematography in large-scale scope and some shots were recorded for at least I would estimate about twenty seconds or more. The CGI special effects for the whales and other sea creatures are photorealistic with expert precision. The music score is beautiful and imposing, if not exactly memorable. As far as characters go, they are half-full of depth and fleshed-out information, but for what they are about to say in the movie, the dialogue is smart and thick; Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) is a whaler with either very little or some forgettable information, but regardless to all of that aside, he is a loyal role model for his men and he keeps his promise that his wife has offered him. The problem is that most of the characters are hollow and forgettable, except for Owen's wife and Thomas Nickerson (young by Tom Holland and old by Brendan Gleeson), but as I mentioned before, these characters have forgettable information, but not Owen. Surprisingly enough for a PG-13 rated film, there are some positive messages about loyalty and about the moral ambiguity of what's required to survive under extreme circumstances. In conclusion: It's unpretentious with little execution because the characters and craftsmanship are a middling effort, but this is a captivating and compelling whale of a tale that provides awareness on plummeting populations of whales for oil. 3.5/5. For quality it's fine/solid/mostly positive, for recommendation however, it's Highly recommended.
4 people found this review helpful
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Joel
March 8, 2016
I have mixed feelings about this film. In a sense, reading the book the movie is based on ruined the movie for me. The movie only covers 1/4th of the material in the book. There were so many details and events that happened that I don't think a movie could adequately tell the story of what happened. While they tried to convey conflicts and situations through dialogue in the movie (e.g., Owen's inclination to lead over Captain Pollard), there were other embellishments added to what actually happened which turned me off. Movies like this try to give historical events more flare and excitement by taking out major events or by adding things that never happened. For example, in the book written by Philbrick, the whale was never seen again after it had destroyed the ship. However, in the movie the whale follows them for several days and attacks them right before they made it to the island. I just rolled my eyes when this happened. The whale was actually a very small part of it all. While I still enjoyed the movie to a point, over all, it was lackluster for me because of these factors. Word of advice: Don't get your history from Hollywood.
102 people found this review helpful
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Jeff Shellow
February 27, 2016
Again, I'm biased (due to the cetacean element) but it actual does honor the plight of the whales . Beyond that its a well written story with pleasing cinematography and anatomically accurate cgi ...// hey guys I know my reviews are lacking as of late , if I even muster the enthusiasm to write em and for that I do apologize. I'll try and step it up , maybe catch the vapors, so to speak ,Lolol or at least find some kind of Muse . Kk Dueces muses. ( :b see what I did there hahah *dork). Sorry
63 people found this review helpful
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