Two hours of a fine rescue drama but nothing new to see here.

Rating: 7/10 (18 December 2016)

Based on the true story in 1952, The Finest Hours is about a US Coastguard station being deployed in an attempt to save a crew of an oil tanker that has split into two. The genre of biographical disaster movies is slowly becoming more saturated, particularly those with a serious perspective. The difference this time is that Disney has taken charge of the production which meant this film turned out to be an old-fashioned rescue drama that I thought was much needed. Firstly the cast was good, it was varied from veterans such as Eric Bana and Casey Affleck to more mainstream actors including Chris Pine and Ben Foster. Thankfully this film does not thrive of great performances, it is a visual story and director Craig Gillespie (Million Dollar Arm) knew this, hence the focus on great weather visuals and the destruction of the oil tanker. Pleasant effects but a few fully rendered human characters did not look great and did take away from the realism slightly. The story was very old-fashioned and I found that refreshing especially in 2016 where films try to be different for the sake of it. At the core, it's all about heroism and braving nature when the odds are against you, essentially human persistence and determination into saving other lives. The production design was great, the period setting of 1952 was well lifted. The beginning was standard character introductions, the middle was the rescue mission and the ending was the attempt at getting back in time. All of this being intertwined with a love story. That is where the problem lies, it is very mechanical and predictable. We have probably come to expect this from a Disney production but whilst I personally felt this was a good choice, some might be left wanting more. I mean it is nothing new, it's just a standard rescue story yet it's handled with such care that it is hard not to appreciate. The soundtrack was also well integrated, very traditional and reminded me of films from the 80's and 90's. The credits was a noteworthy part of the film in the fact that they show the photos of the crew and the coastguard station from 1952, definitely brings the additional realism that the film requires. Overall, The Finest Hours was a fine rescue drama with great visuals and a hearty story about heroism, although the old-fashioned pacing may leave viewers wanting more.

Review at: http://www.themoviediorama.com