The sea is angry in "The Finest Hours."
For these Coast Guard heroes, it was "The Finest Hours."
For us, it's just a so-so 129 minutes.
The big-screen maritime adventure isn't quite as waterlogged as last year's sluggish "In the Heart of the Sea." But despite some great effects, and one good performance, it never quite gets underway.
This based-on-fact story is set on 1952 Cape Cod, where dully handsome Chris Pine is in the Coast Guard. A historic blizzard has split up two massive oil tankers, so Pine and three other sailors take a creaky 36-footer and go on a rescue mission.
Casey Affleck stars as an disliked engineer who struggles to keep his sinking ship afloat in "The Finest Hours." Unfortunately, the movie doesn't manage to do so.
Meanwhile, on one of the tankers, engineer Casey Affleck is trying to hold it together. Literally. The ship's bow has already sunk, taking all the officers with it; now Affleck has to try to keep the shattered stern afloat, at least until hope arrives. If it ever arrives.
But things go off course early with a long, snoozy prologue about Pine's romantic difficulties. And the "Star Trek" actor doesn't get much more exciting as the movie goes on; sure, he's heroic, but his bravery shows itself as silent stubbornness. Even all wet, he's dry as dirt.
Better is Affleck. He's stoic, too, but his character is richer — a gear-headed loner disliked by the other sailors— and his story is more complicated. How do you steer a tanker when the ship's wheel — and its navigator, compass and charts — are at the bottom of the sea?
Chris PIne is wooden as a Coast Guard hero in "The Finest Hours."
He'll find a way. He has to.
Director Craig Gillespie smartly cuts between the two men in an effort to ramp up the suspense, but as courageous as Pine and his crew are, they don't register as real people. Affleck makes a bigger impression — to begin with, he's a better actor — but the sailors around him are forgettable, too.
At least the effects are great; although 3D adds little, IMAX is worth the few extra bucks. If you go, you'll want that big screen to really feel the swirling vastness of the crashing ocean, the looming mountain of the crippled ship. Those brief moments can leave you breathless.
But don't be surprised if the human story leaves you a little cold.
References
- ^ movie reviews (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ the finest hours (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ chris pine (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ casey affleck (www.nydailynews.com)
