In the Heart of the Sea review

Ron Howard’s “In the Heart of the Sea” is a 3D, special effects reimagining of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” that’s oddly bashful about its source material. The conceit is that this film is based on the true story that “Moby Dick” was inspired by, but given the level of artifice involved in the movie’s production, truth and authenticity hardly feels like the Howard's cinematic goal with this project. It’s also a special effects film in which the last 30 minutes primarily focuses on a group of starving men floating around in still waters.

Perhaps we need a new word for year-end, awards-baiting 3D films like “Gravity” and “Life of Pi”; not quite blockbuster, but not quite prestige film either. They exist somewhere in the middle, attempting to draw people in with the promise of spectacle, boasting a well-regarded cast and director and expressing just enough dramatic oomph to suggest a deeper regard for story than the summer’s brand of overblown toy commercials and comic book properties--or at least that’s the intended impression.

The story here is wrapped around a distracting framing device in which Brendan Gleeson recounts his time at sea as the youngest passenger aboard the movie’s nautical whaling adventure. As he tells this story to a young Herman Melville with writers-block (Ben Wishaw), we go back to the early 19^th century when whale-oil was a huge political and economic commodity.  Gleeson’s character is now played by future-Spider-Man Tom Holland, who looks up to the handsome and masculine Owen Chase, played by Chris Hemsworth. Chase is upset because, though he is more qualified and experienced, he is made second in command of his whaling ship to George Pollard (Benjamin Walker), who was hastily made captain through nepotism. After spending months at sea with little to show for it, the crew is told that there is a stretch of ocean a few thousand miles off the shores of Argentina lousy with whales, so long as they can survive a monstrous, vengeful sea-demon known as…well, not Moby Dick, because this isn’t that story…exactly.

Out of the gate this film is hobbled by the story within a story about a story concept, and with the narrator’s timeline intermittently weaving in and out of the film’s primary narrative, a lot of dramatic tension is broken to serve the movie’s and the tension that exists between it’s want to relish in lush production and its perceived ‘truthiness.’ Besides the whale attack money shots and the occasionally impressive vista, Anthony Dod Mantle’s cinematography is beholden to the 3D moments and blandly color-corrected with an aqua-marine tinge that actually flattens the dynamics of every shot.

That said, I can’t deny that the film eventually wormed its way into my psyche as the third act delved deeper into its characters and raised the stakes of their personal sense of humanity. Though the movie slows down to a crawl and essentially abandon’s its high-concept effects-ride premise, I could appreciate some of the narrative risks it was willing to take. Of course these risks are somewhat undercut by the need to have Wishaw and Gleeson explicate the movie’s themes every time the movie felt the need to cut back to the framing device.

“In the Heart of the Sea” is a gaudy, noble failure that mostly doesn’t work, but it’s also not entirely unentertaining. A lot of the movie is undeniably hokey. The performances are a little over-mannered, even by seasoned pros like Hemsworth and the great Irish actor Cillian Murphy, and with their old-American costumes and warbled accents much of it plays like an expensive episode of Comedy Central’s “Drunk History.” Which isn’t to say that there isn’t some inherent fun to be had in that aesthetic. Thematically, the movie struggles to tie together its semi-environmental ideas about the oil industrial complex with its sub-“Jaws” competition of masculinity themes and by the end of the film audiences are likely to feel bait-and-switched by how slow and dark the movie allows itself to get.

Grade: C-

Originally Printed in the Idaho State Journal/Dec-2015

Listen to more discussion about "In the Heart of the Sea" on this week's "Jabber and the Drone" Podcast.

Rush review

  

             Two years ago, before he was introduced to the world as the superhero god Thor, the blonde Australian known as Chris Hemsworth was an unknown actor. Around the same time,well-vetted, ginger director, Ron Howard, made a failed buddy comedy staring Kevin James and Vince Vaughn.  Now, in 2013, with their newest film “Rush”, they are both in a much better place, pairing together for this historical biopic about Formula-One racing and clashing egos. Nothing here is astonishingly new,  astonishingly original, or even all that astonishing in general, but like a well-oiled machine, everything moves the way it’s supposed to and the film manages gets from point A to point B, with everything still intact.

                Perhaps playing on the ultra-masculine, god-like demeanor of his Marvel Thor persona, Hemsworth plays a cocky British car-racer named James Hunt, a real life, champion driver from the 1970s’. Along the way, while graduating from Formula Two buggies to Formula One speedsters, he meets an Austrian brat from a family of wealth a privilege named Niki Lauda, played by “Inglourius Basterds” actor, Daniel Bruhl.  While Hunt wins his way into the big-leagues, Louda buys his ticket in, starting an instant rivalry between the two talented drivers. Not making anything easier, they are also complete philosophical opposites, both on and off the road. Louda likes to live simply and race carefully, within the strict parameters of the race-track rules.  Hunt, on the other hand, seems more interested in reveling in his wealth and celebrity with anyone who is willing to show him a good time, especially beautiful women like the young Suzy Miller (Olivia Wilde), who he eventually--but not faithfully--marries out of pressure from his family and friends.

                Much of the film follows these two as they separately race their way to the top, knowing that at some point they will eventually have to show down against each other for the top prize. It’s an easy sports-movie formula, but this film pads that tired structure with a sense of tobacco stained, gritty 70s’ realism and two lead performances that are well-managed and well-rehearsed. 

                 In fact, most aspects of this film are thoughtfully conceived and executed. It has strong central performances, the tone is consistent, the world looks convincingly period, and the drama is handled in a way that feels honest and heartfelt, without drifting into sentimental melodrama. Both the direction and the camera work are also very nice and the sense of speed during some of the racing scenes creates a palpable tension and excitement. Other times, however, some of these scenes are over-edited and somewhat choppy and occasionally this tends to muddle the action or disorient the set-pieces.  More single takes or longer held shots on the track itself might have let these races breathe a little and given the audience a better sense of the length of each lap, but this is a minor quibble for otherwise quality offering.  

                I liked “Rush” but I can’t say that I fell in love with it. In part, this was because of the formulaic plot structure, and in some ways, because of the telegraphed emotional arc between Bruhl and Hemsworth. But as a character piece it doesn’t have to be too complicated and as a sports movie it doesn’t need to do much more than give you someone to root for. It’s better than average and in fact, it’s pretty good, but as a would-be prestige film there seems to be layer of textual gratification that just keeps it from reaching greatness.

Grade: B+

Originally published in the Idaho State Journal/Oct-2013