In the Heart of the Sea

In the Heart of the Sea

Rating 6.5 out of 10

I have been a fan of Ron Howard directed movies since the beginning.  He had an amazing string back in 80's and early 90's.  Splash, Cocoon, Willow, Backdraft, Parenthood, Apollo 13 to name a few.  More recently I think he has made some very good yet under appreciated movies.  If you haven't seen Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe you are missing out.  Great movie.  In 2013 he came out with Rush.  A movie about a racer driver that was good although it had a small target audience.

I like many were amazed with the previews of this huge whale attacking and destroying a gigantic whaling ship while hunky Chris Hemsworth yielding  a mighty spear thing vowing to take this beast down.  The bad reviews and low attendance helped put this movie on the back burner.  Lots of rain days with nothing else to do so I grabbed the Hottie (She is entertained with anything Hemsworth is in) and off to the theater we went.

This movie starts in the early 1800's.  This is before people realize oil is in the ground and can be pumped out to light and heat our homes.  Whale oil is used in place of candles as bright burning and long lasting fuel.   Whale oil is a hot commodity  and business men are building ships as fast as the trees can be cut down and hiring sea captains to make them rich.  On this fateful voyage the captain takes the ship out to sea further and further hunting for that large pod of whales they hear is there.  They also hear stories of a white whale more than 100 feet long and mean as a snake.  They mark that off to fisherman's lore and see dollar signs.

When they find the pod of whales they also find the story of the white whale to be true and things do not go well.  The ship is destroyed and the seamen left alive are 2000 miles from land in small lifeboats trying to survive.  Here it becomes a survival movie.  There is also a side story of Moby Dick author Herman Melville interviewing the last living survivor of this voyage to get the inspiration for his whale book.

I was entertained with this movie.  The scenes of the way they harpooned and brought in whales much bigger than their little boats is amazing.  Was a little disappointed in the big whale.  Literally what you see in the two minute trailer is about thirty seconds shy of all the screen time for the great white one  Hemsworth is hunky and entertaining as always. This will make a good rental.