In the Heart of the Sea Movie Review

In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

Rent In the Heart of the Sea on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link) 
Written by: Charles Leavitt  (screenplay, story) and Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (story), Nathaniel Philbrick (book)
Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
A giant whale sinks a whaling ship in the story that inspired the novel Moby Dick.

Verdict
It relies on spectacle and fails to provide a compelling story or characters. We know the tale of Moby Dick, and this movie needs to provide something more than that. Unfortunately it does not. It lacks a unifying theme.  It's a trope filled movie that just goes through the motions.
Skip it.

Review
In the Heart of the Sea proves how crucial the script is in a movie production. A good director like Howard can't fix the underlying problems. The structure of the movie with Melville interviewing the last living crew member from the ship Essex grounds the movie in reality but brings the action and tension to a screeching halt.
The story of Moby Dick has been told, retold, and parodied. This is the real account of what happened before Melville fictionalized it and added the intriguing character of Captain Ahab. It's as bland as it sounds. I was surprised at the CGI effects. They weren't bad, but there were more than a few times the CGI was noticeable. This is after just having watched A Perfect Storm which is fifteen years older and still looks really good. I expected better effects from a Ron Howard blockbuster.

In the Heart of the Sea - Watch out for that whale!

The movie is framed with Melville tracking down the last living passenger, the cabin boy now an old man, who he coaxes to reveal this story of the whale for the first time. It sets up plenty of drama. Chris Hemsworth is the first mate Chase, who was promised captain, but because he's poor loses the job to the rich and affluent George Pollard. Of course Pollard is incompetent, and Chase is asked to help him out. As cliche as that sounds, I hoped we would delve into the characters and create intriguing people. That doesn't happen. The characters are all one note. It had opportunity with two characters that are complete opposites, but it doesn't capitalize. The captain is obviously insecure, and the movie makes him obnoxious instead of balancing him.

The movie continually cuts back to Melville and Dickerson. Their dialog is unnecessary and Dickerson's voice over adds nothing.

The movie picks up when we're finally introduced to Moby Dick, well the inspiration for Moby Dick. The whale is huge and smart, leaving the crew stranded in the ocean after it sinks their battleship... I mean whaling ship.
The movie takes a giant leap in logic when one of the crewman points a gun at Chase, blames him for their current situation and demands Chase admit he is scared. With a movie like this, Chase is too cool to admit such a thing.
Stranded in row boats and on the brink of death, the crew spots a tiny island. Moby Dick has been following them and attacks them again. The remaining men are now stranded on a deserted island. We get the lone acceptable voice over when Dickerson recounts what they had to do to stay alive, but it still could have been executed better.
When the crew finally makes it back to the states, an inquisition is made into what happened. Chase is told to lie and say the ship ran aground. No one would believe a great white whale sunk the ship. Chase is too proud to lie, even for a big payoff. Pollard follows Chase's lead, tells the truth and goes back out to sea to chase the white whale.