I’ve been really looking forward to Ron Howard’s IN THE HEART OF THE SEA. The film, which stars Chris Hemsworth, tells the tale of the true story that inspired Moby Dick. The trailers that have been released thus far have been pretty damned epic, and I’m sad that I won’t be able to see it when it was originally planned to hit theaters in March. That said, I get it. A movie that looks as good as this should be placed somewhere that it will get the attention it deserves come awards season. March is not that place. December is.
In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. “Heart of the Sea” reveals the encounter’s harrowing aftermath, as the ship’s surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down.