PG-13
Run time: 114 mins
Set in 1952, The Finest Hours recounts the true
story of one of the most dangerous Coast Guard rescues in history. When a
raging storm splits the SS Pendleton in half off the coast of Massachusetts,
the oil tanker only has hours left before it sinks entirely. Led by Ray Sybert
(Casey Affleck), the crew works rapidly in order to buy themselves some time
aboard the dying vessel. Meanwhile, local Coast Guard crewman Bernie Webber
(Chris Pine) braves the open ocean to come to their aid.
Unfortunately, The Finest Hours was not the finest
movie. Its biggest pitfall by far was the drama away from the ocean, which was
downright painful to watch. When you go into a movie about seafaring in a
deadly storm, the clunky romances and squabbles back on land are just as
unexpected as they are unwanted. The main plot was continuously getting bogged
down by the cliché courtship between Bernie Webber and his fiancée, as well as
multiple mentions of a past failed rescue attempt. The latter was mainly
troubling because it made Bernie’s desire for self-redemption begin to eclipse
the real goal: Saving the 32 lives aboard the SS Pendleton.
The character development throughout the movie felt
forced, which was especially surprising given the noteworthy cast. It felt like
they were too focused on trying to assert that their characters were ‘real
people’, when they should have been focusing on giving engaging performances.
However, this is mostly the fault of the director and writers. Overall, the
cast seemed to be doing the best they could with what they were given.
I hate to typecast, but frankly, Chris Pine’s role felt
disingenuous. Having Chris Pine play the awkward, timid skipper was about as
weird and uncomfortable as the time Toby McGuire tried to play the confident,
alluring villain in Spider-Man 3. You know what scene I’m talking about.
Then there was Webber’s fiancée, played by Holliday Grainger, whose character
was especially unoriginal. I get what they were going for – the independent
woman unfazed by a society run by men – but her character was severely lacking
in substance.
On a positive note, the visuals did gain back some
brownie points. The scene where Josh Stewart’s character is going to talk to
the ship’s captain, only to find that half of the tanker is just gone,
gave me chills. The tense score by Carter Burwell, combined with the 70-foot
CGI waves add up to some very stressful sequences. So, in this aspect, the film
did do a good job of expressing the uncooperativeness of nature. But this theme
can only carry the movie so far, especially since it seems familiar and
overused, particularly with the recent showing of The Revenant.
What The Finest Hours came down to was a
disjointed mesh of a daring rescue mission and a sappy romance, hastily
plastered together with a few recycled motifs. If director Craig Gillespie had
stuck to what was happening on the oil tanker, the movie would have been much
more captivating. It’s a shame that the incredible story didn’t produce an
amazing film, because it definitely deserved it.
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