In the Heart of the Sea ** (2015, Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw, Tom Holland, Benjamin Walker) – Movie Review

‘The tragedy of the Essex is the story of men. And a Demon.’

Ben Whishaw plays the author Herman Melville, who in the 1850s turns up at the home of Tom Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson), who reluctantly ends up recounting his whaling ship’s sinking by a giant whale when he was a lad back in 1820 in a true story that inspired Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick.

Tom Holland (the new Spider-Man) plays the young Nickerson undergoing terrible trials and tribulations aboard Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) and First Mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth)’s New England whaling ship Essex.

Director Ron Howard’s $100million period adventure movie is well polished but all at sea, bearing signs of heavy editing to its present crisp 123 minutes. Various characters aboard are just there with no good reason. For example what happened to Cillian Murphy’s star role as Matthew Joy? He’s there, he’s sick, he’s dead!

As for the story, it might have seemed like a really good idea putting a fresh spin across Moby Dick by telling the true story behind it. But the realities are uncomfortable and unwieldy. The ‘abominations’ on board when the lads have to resort to a bit of cannibalism to survive are a bit of a real downer. No wonder Nickerson is reluctant to tell Melville about it ! No wonder Melville promises not to put it in his novel! Movies have come aground before at the box office with the taboo subject of cannibalism.

On the other hand, there’s plenty of manly acting from a good cast, a costly looking period production, with classy cinematography and effective visual effects. But as adventure drama, it’s in still waters. It proves once again that posh-end blockbusters are difficult to do. They’d have been much better off filming Moby Dick again.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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Tom Holland (the new Spider-Man) plays the young Nickerson.