The Finest Hours: Movie Review
“The Finest Hours” is based on the true story of the most daring rescue mission in Coast Guard history. Directed by Craig Gillespie (“Lars and the Real Girl”, “Million Dollar Arm”), who is definitely a capable filmmaker, hasn’t had much experience directing CGI heavy action (with 2011’s “Fright Night” remake being the closest). When I say “CGI-Heavy”, I mean it. This is actually one of the major issues I had with “The Finest Hours”. Much of the action that takes place on the stormy seas feels so artificial, that it becomes difficult to see this is a true-life story. Still, thanks to a strong cast that includes Chris Pine, Holliday Grainger, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Kyle Gallner, and John Magaro, “The Finest Hours” still manages to be a solid dramatic action-thriller.
Although mostly quiet and shy, Coat Guard Bernie Webber (Pine), takes his career very seriously. He follows the rules. He won’t even commit when his girlfriend Miriam (Grainger) proposes to him until he gets permission from his captain (Eric Bana). Despite Bernie being a good man and a true to his work, he has never been taken seriously by fellow Guards. All that is about to change.
On February 18th, 1952 a massive nor’easter struck New England, splitting in two the SS Pendleton, T-2 oil tanker. With the captain and more than half of the crew dead from the incident, assistant engineer Ray Sybert (Affleck) is the only one on board who knows enough about the ship to help keep the remaining crew alive until rescue comes. Not only is the remaining half of the ship sinking, but almost all rescue efforts are aiding another ship across the sea that also split in two. The only rescue team that could possibly reach the SS Pendleton in time would be from the U.S. Coast Guard station in Chatham, Massachusetts.
Even though chances are slim that a rescue team would survive the mission do to the deadly storm, the rules of the Coast Guard are that they have to go out, but they don’t have to come back. Four men head out on the rescue, Bernie Webber, Richard Livesey (Foster), Andy Fitzgerald (Gallner) and Ervin Maske (Magaro). I honestly can’t think of any better casting for those four men. Their performances helped distract me from the CGI settings. Once we get to the actual rescue things do get a bit more thrilling, however the demise of a certain character we could see coming from the cheesy dialogue they spewed moments before they met their fate.
“The Finest Hours” is a great story but not a great movie. In Disney fashion, the story has been told in a way to make it pleasing to a broad audience. I would still recommend the film to anyone interested in seeing something about real life heroes and not ones that come from comic books.
By: Marc Ferman