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Sea Sick

Ron Howard's new film, "In the Heart of the Sea" is such a bumpy and uneven experience, I should have taken Dramamine before he took me whale watching for just over two hours.

Howard delivers a familiar tale but infuses intermittent energy and thrills throughout the film's duration. Much like his last movie, "Rush," which more people liked than I did, the interesting moments are few and far between all of the narrative lulls. At less than an hour into the film, a title card noted that the crew had been at sea for three months, which prompted me to scribble in my notes, "feels like it!"

A large portion of "In the Heart of the Sea" takes place on water, as the title suggests, and it is all captured beautifully. Howard and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle shoot the sea in various, crisp shades of blue, occasionally making the film quite immersive. When they pull away to focus on the characters, the movie begins to lag and interest begins to wane. It does not matter if your movie is built on spectacle, characters matter!

Howard has said that Ang Lee's Oscar-winning film "Life of Pi" was an influence. It shows throughout the entire structure of "In the Heart of the Sea" - from the set-up of the film to the execution and various beats throughout. The film begins with narration from Herman Melville (Ben Winshaw), who goes to the home of Tom Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson, always welcomed), to learn what happened on the Essex voyage. Tom is hesitant to speak of his days at sea but finally opens up to Melville, telling his entire story.

Cut to flashbacks of a crew assembling to set out to sea to collect 2,000 barrels of oil. They are lead by a young and inexperienced captain, George Pollard (Benjamin Walker), who got the job on name alone. His first mate, Owen (Chris Hemsworth), has more experience at sea and feels slighted not being the captain of the voyage.

They hit the open sea and begin scouting for whales to hunt for their oil, which is Owen's area of expertise. The sequences of man versus whale are thrilling but one calamitous encounter leaves the crew stranded at sea. The days start passing and all signs of hope begin to fade. The psychological effects of being lost on the water set in quickly but we've seen it all before. The film becomes very drawn out, until the script snowballs towards the end and really tries to force in the long-term effects the crew faces.

Even though I didn't care for "Rush," Hemsworth worked much better for Howard in their previous collaboration. His role in that film called for just the right amount of swaggering, movie star charisma and he turned in his most impressive performance to date. He's far too broad here, and often unintelligible, spouting various loud lines in a Boston-Australian accent (which is not a thing, to be clear).

For all of its technical proficiency, "In the Heart of the Sea" doesn't deliver dramatically. With its one-dimensional characters and familiar story, "In the Heart of the Sea" just seems to be treading water.