3.5 stars out of 5
I don’t know, something just ain’t pulling me to The Revenant. It was Tuesday, $6 Tuesday, and I could’ve really seen The Revenant this time, but no, I didn’t. I saw The Finest Hours instead. Sorry again, Leo.
When I first caught the trailer for The Finest Hours, I figured I’d probably see it, regardless of quality. I like boats, I like seaside New England towns, and I like storms. So, a perfect storm, if you will. Ooh, you know what was a good movie? The Perfect Storm. And that was 16 freaking years ago, so I was due to see another.
This was a Disney movie, though… could be squeaky-clean and crappy. But The Finest Hours had me from the get-go. It’s 1951, Sinatra is singing “The Hucklebuck,” and we all know I’m crazy for the old-timey. (Mind you, not too old-timey: I skipped that Ron Howard ship-in-trouble Moby Dick thing.) Chris Pine is young Coast Guard fella Bernie Webber, nervous to meet Miriam (a charming Holliday Grainger, who I share a birthday with) in-person for the first time, at quaint soda fountain, before heading to one of those dimly-lit seaside bars with crusty old fisherman in it. I was totally eating this all up.
Now, The Finest Hours is based on a true story, and I dig those too. Things usually can’t get too ridiculous. But what this movie also has going for it: two plots for the price of one! Sure, there’s Webber, and a storm’s a-comin’, and he’s got a job to do, even though his best girl Miriam is going to worry something sick, oh yes she is. Ah, but his job is to rescue the crew of the Pendleton, and they have their very own storyline. The Pendleton is in bad shape — she’s taking on water, drastic measures are needed, and somebody has to step up and step up now! Don’t worry, Casey Affleck is here. As Sybert (pronounced See-bert, which is sometimes how people say my name if they read it off a sheet), he’s a ship-obsessed loner toiling in the bowels. And Affleck is maybe a little too handsome to be this character — with a touch of Captain Queeg except he’s a good guy — but Casey has the intensity and darting crazy eyes to pull it off.
Pine does a decent job, displaying that Captain Kirk reckless responsibility, but with the ego turned way down. He’s like a poor man’s Matt Damon. Affleck is even better, slowly gaining his crew’s trust. And there are other good actors around: Ben Foster, a little chunkier than we’ve seem him, is Webber’s second-in-command, a trusty pal. Eric Bana (wow, Munich was 11 years ago) has a fairly thankless role, the clichéd commanding officer who doesn’t really know what he’s doing — but does it anyway! John Magaro, also on Webber’s small crew, doesn’t get much to do, but he did have a pretty sweet late-2015: as the photo buddy in Carol, and young nerdy Charlie Geller in The Big Short.
Another strength of this film is director Craig Gillespie, who helmed another Disney based-on-a-true-story that I enjoyed, Million Dollar Arm. Here, Gillespie keeps the action exciting (though a couple of clearly-for-3D moments were a bit clunky in 2D), the story moving forward, and prevents the drama from getting too melodramatic. Lars and the Real Girl may still be Gillespie’s finest hour, but The Finest Hours is pretty solid too.
Jack Silbert, curator