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The Finest Hours - Heroism in Action
It was movie time, but due to the antics of the recent nor’easter Jonas, several of our regular theaters were still snowed in, so out we go to the recently plowed cineplex, which is mainly showing films we have already seen. What we had not seen was The Finest Hours, which received middling reviews (7.2 on IMDB, 59% critics, 72% viewers, on Rotten Tomatoes) in the movie press. The Finest Hours is the fictionalized true story of 4 Coast Guard guys who went out in a small boat to rescue the crew of a large tanker that was one of two that were being pounded by a huge coastal storm in 1952. For those of you who have never been in the teeth of a storm like this, the coastal storms (nor’easters) that occasionally strike the mid-Atlantic and Northeast coast approach and sometimes reach the intensity of hurricanes, but are generally much larger, geographically speaking. They raise enormous waves (sometimes as high as 90 feet), flood coastal communities, wreck buildings, can include blizzards, and can literally rip a 500 foot long steel ship in half. I’ve sat through a couple of them on the coast in my life, fortunately in a safe building on the land. I can’t imagine being out there in a small boat, or even a large ship. It looks like a fundamental force of nature has aroused and wants to drown you.
(Spoiler Alert, in case you don’t watch the trailer) The Finest Hours tells the true story of one specific rescue, that of the USS Pendleton, a WW II tanker that had been sold as a bulk carrier after the end of the war. The ship went into distress during a huge storm off the Massachusetts coast, broke in half with 32 crew members left in the rapidly sinking stern. The 9 members in the bow were all lost. A small Coast Guard boat with a crew of 4 was launched into huge seas and managed a daring rescue, saving all but one of the 32 crewmen in the stern section of the ship. The rescue was a milestone in Coast Guard history and led to the Coast Guard getting bigger ships.
The film was directed by Craig Gillespie (Fright Night and the likeably silly Lars and the Real Girl). It was a Disney project, complete with castle and Tinkerbell logo, so it had to be morally clear and family-friendly. Stars included Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Eric Bana and Holliday Grainger. The movie was packed with digitally created storms and ships and was filmed in 3D.
My first observation about this movie is that it is much like a World War II story. Instead of human enemies, however, it’s the storm. A mismatched group of unlikely heroes is dispatched to perform a dangerous mission, goes way beyond the call of duty against a ruthless enemy and saves the day, while the crew leader (Chris Pine) has a girlfriend waiting at home, not knowing whether she will ever seem him again. The base commander is sincere, but in over his head, never having seen a nor’easter up close, and the crew goes beyond their orders to undertake what seems like a suicidal rescue attempt. It’s a simple story of hometown grit against amazing odds.
The Finest Hours is not a movie with a lot of subtlety and doesn’t require much cognitive analysis. Like those old WW II movies, the story is simple and morally clear, the acting mostly consists of being sincere and purposeful for the CG members, desperate for the crew of the sinking ship and, for the characters on land, worried. It’s very physical acting and they spend a lot of time cold and wet. If this crew had not been rescuing a ship’s crew, it might have been storming the beach on Okinawa or holding back the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. Over the years, a number of movies have been made with “Finest Hour” in the title, the title implies this sort of moral urgency and heroism, so there’s nothing especially new about the theme. This film doesn’t add anything to the genre, but also doesn’t do anything bad. Chris Pine is OK as the crew leader, as is Holliday Grainger as his waiting girlfriend, but neither their romance nor the watery drama point toward any Oscars. It’s not surprising that the film is laden with FX, between the sinking ship and the horrifying sea. Dialog is sometimes unclear, both because of the tremendous roar of the storm and because of the sometimes dense New England seafaring accents. Most of the effects are pretty good. I did not see it in 3D (thankfully) but I don’t think it would have really added much. I can give this film a middling recommendation. It doesn’t do anything that has not been in many movies, but it’s still a story well worth telling. The first third of the film that establishes the characters drags and doesn’t have the quick pace of that segment of old “right stuff” movies, but once the action kicks in, the pace is quick. Fortunately the storm does not growl or act evil; it’s just a huge, indifferent force of nature. The Finest Hours is not my favorite film of the season, but I enjoyed it. If you need something to let you know that winter can really be much worse, this will do it.
It was movie time, but due to the antics of the recent nor’easter Jonas, several of our regular theaters were still snowed in, so out we go to the recently plowed cineplex, which is mainly showing films we have already seen. What we had not seen was The Finest Hours, which received middling reviews (7.2 on IMDB, 59% critics, 72% viewers, on Rotten Tomatoes) in the movie press. The Finest Hours is the fictionalized true story of 4 Coast Guard guys who went out in a small boat to rescue the crew of a large tanker that was one of two that were being pounded by a huge coastal storm in 1952. For those of you who have never been in the teeth of a storm like this, the coastal storms (nor’easters) that occasionally strike the mid-Atlantic and Northeast coast approach and sometimes reach the intensity of hurricanes, but are generally much larger, geographically speaking. They raise enormous waves (sometimes as high as 90 feet), flood coastal communities, wreck buildings, can include blizzards, and can literally rip a 500 foot long steel ship in half. I’ve sat through a couple of them on the coast in my life, fortunately in a safe building on the land. I can’t imagine being out there in a small boat, or even a large ship. It looks like a fundamental force of nature has aroused and wants to drown you.
(Spoiler Alert, in case you don’t watch the trailer) The Finest Hours tells the true story of one specific rescue, that of the USS Pendleton, a WW II tanker that had been sold as a bulk carrier after the end of the war. The ship went into distress during a huge storm off the Massachusetts coast, broke in half with 32 crew members left in the rapidly sinking stern. The 9 members in the bow were all lost. A small Coast Guard boat with a crew of 4 was launched into huge seas and managed a daring rescue, saving all but one of the 32 crewmen in the stern section of the ship. The rescue was a milestone in Coast Guard history and led to the Coast Guard getting bigger ships.
The film was directed by Craig Gillespie (Fright Night and the likeably silly Lars and the Real Girl). It was a Disney project, complete with castle and Tinkerbell logo, so it had to be morally clear and family-friendly. Stars included Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Eric Bana and Holliday Grainger. The movie was packed with digitally created storms and ships and was filmed in 3D.
My first observation about this movie is that it is much like a World War II story. Instead of human enemies, however, it’s the storm. A mismatched group of unlikely heroes is dispatched to perform a dangerous mission, goes way beyond the call of duty against a ruthless enemy and saves the day, while the crew leader (Chris Pine) has a girlfriend waiting at home, not knowing whether she will ever seem him again. The base commander is sincere, but in over his head, never having seen a nor’easter up close, and the crew goes beyond their orders to undertake what seems like a suicidal rescue attempt. It’s a simple story of hometown grit against amazing odds.
The Finest Hours is not a movie with a lot of subtlety and doesn’t require much cognitive analysis. Like those old WW II movies, the story is simple and morally clear, the acting mostly consists of being sincere and purposeful for the CG members, desperate for the crew of the sinking ship and, for the characters on land, worried. It’s very physical acting and they spend a lot of time cold and wet. If this crew had not been rescuing a ship’s crew, it might have been storming the beach on Okinawa or holding back the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. Over the years, a number of movies have been made with “Finest Hour” in the title, the title implies this sort of moral urgency and heroism, so there’s nothing especially new about the theme. This film doesn’t add anything to the genre, but also doesn’t do anything bad. Chris Pine is OK as the crew leader, as is Holliday Grainger as his waiting girlfriend, but neither their romance nor the watery drama point toward any Oscars. It’s not surprising that the film is laden with FX, between the sinking ship and the horrifying sea. Dialog is sometimes unclear, both because of the tremendous roar of the storm and because of the sometimes dense New England seafaring accents. Most of the effects are pretty good. I did not see it in 3D (thankfully) but I don’t think it would have really added much. I can give this film a middling recommendation. It doesn’t do anything that has not been in many movies, but it’s still a story well worth telling. The first third of the film that establishes the characters drags and doesn’t have the quick pace of that segment of old “right stuff” movies, but once the action kicks in, the pace is quick. Fortunately the storm does not growl or act evil; it’s just a huge, indifferent force of nature. The Finest Hours is not my favorite film of the season, but I enjoyed it. If you need something to let you know that winter can really be much worse, this will do it.