“In the Heart of the Sea” is NOT director Ron Howard’s cinematic version of Moby-Dick with an updated title. It is, instead, the much less captivating story behind the story of one of the most cherished literary works of all-time. Moby-Dick may be required reading, but “In the Heart of the Sea” is absolutely not required viewing.
Howard’s “Rush” star, Chris Hemsworth, plays Owen Chase, First Mate aboard The Essex, a whaling ship which set sail from Nantucket in 1820, with the goal of returning within a year with 2000 barrels of whale oil. Owen butts heads with the ship’s captain, George Pollard (Benjamin Walker from “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) over how to command the crew and set the course of the vessel as they roam the Atlantic Ocean in search of their prey. The youngest hand on board, Thomas Nickerson, is played by “The Next Spider-Man”, Tom Holland.
This saga of The Essex is actually told to Moby-Dick author Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) by an adult Thomas (played by Whishaw’s “Suffragette” co-star, Brendan Gleeson) 30 years later, and it becomes the inspiration for Melville’s fictitious tale of the great White Whale. Howard cuts back from the high seas to these two men discussing the past events several times during the film. Their interaction is the most genuinely interesting part of the movie. Sadly, I’m guessing this wasn’t Howard’s intention.
“In the Heart of the Sea” isn’t an exciting or impressive adventure. In fact, it lacks any legitimate dramatic tension. Even though the story jumps ahead at times by months, it still moves at an incredibly slow pace, with the “stranded at sea” sections as dreary and drawn-out as those in “Life of Pi”, “All is Lost” and “Unbroken”. And just as with those films, my mind couldn’t help but wander adrift in a sea of thoughts that had nothing to do with anything taking place on screen.
The “heart” of Moby-Dick was the relationship between man and creature. A large white whale does make an appearance in “In the Heart of the Sea”, but it’s a supporting role, and Howard fails to establish any dramatic tension early between the hunters (the whalers) and the hunted (the whales) or later, the hunter (the whale) and the hunted (the whalers). And forget about any meaningful content of man exploting nature for his own benefit.
Warner Bros. decided, back at the beginning of the year, to move the release date of this film from March to December, anticipating it would be an awards contender. That was a mistake. Hemsworth’s charm and dashing smile are on display as always, but neither he, nor anything else here, rise above the level of mediocre. Even the visuals are dull – not easy to do considering the subject.
In fact the only “wow” factor this movie provides comes on the way out of the theater, when you’re thinking – “Wow, that was a whale of a disappointment.”
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “In the Heart of the Sea” gets a C-.
Running Time: 122 min.