A survivor tale that goes dodgy mid-way, scrabbles towards the end with an insipid feel.
Unfortunately for this one, I can’t say my two hours were the finest hours of my life. The movie’s dramatic quotient is bland.
SPOILERS:
Chris Pine is an absent unimpressive Coast Guard hero who seemed oddly placed in the shoes of Bernie Webber. Ok, so he was trying to depict a sheepish introvert, yet Craig Gillespie just makes him disappear like an apparition. He does the opposite with Ray Sybert played brilliantly by Casey Affleck though, the guy who kept the Pendleton afloat for hours in a punishing storm. Casey looked engrossed in his job, very intelligent, and despite being scared was trying to save lives of the people around. Ray, au contraire, just wanted to get married to Miriam, and follow orders. It seemed in the beginning the way he slouched around with his team that he didn’t really care about people’s endangered lives.
Screenplay is very shoddy, doesn’t have anything interesting for word-freaks. The love story that Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias have endeavoured to weave makes you indifferent towards their romance. It starts out pretty good though but then is lanced by mediocre lines, and unfelt romance. Editing is below average and often makes you wonder out loud what should have been shown and what we could have lived without.
There is literally at one point a “What-the-hell” moment when Miriam Webber walks into the office of the Coast Guard, and refuses to leave, and “orders” the Coast Guard officer to bring the boys back. When Daniel Cluff (played by Eric Bana) retorts, she storms off in her car only too drive into a snow mound. I mean, that entire affair will make you go “Whaaaaaaaaat!” It was supposed to be subtly written and should have packed in the right amount of sentiment, which was clearly missing. But it all seemed so stupid with her weird acting that you can’t really shake it off.
The Finest Hours misses big time on its much needed emotional trauma. You don’t feel a thing for anybody. If it was helmed properly, you would. At the end of the movie, Bernie doesn’t get a hero’s welcome as he disembarks the CG-36500, but rather his lover’s warmth, which leaves you actually vexed. You wish it was milked more or maybe shown in subtlety.
The Finest Hours is good but it could have plunged in better waters to be honest. A one time watch if you want to know about the Coast Guard bravado, a rare feat that saved 32 lives on just a mere lifeboat.
The Finest Hours
Pros
- Casey Affleck's bit is magnificent
- Plot was good
- A historical achievement
Cons
- Direction goes dodgy
- Drama looks deliberate
- Screenplay is poor
