Great depiction of the era and New England Coast Guard outposts provide foundation for harrowing rescue saga

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2016)

This movie does a magnificent job of setting the table for itself. It took me back to the early 1950's in New England without so much as an echo of a false note. The dances, the cars, the attitudes, and the not-so-esprit-de-corps-except-when-it really-counts attitude among the Guard members at the outpost are all presented with remarkable accuracy. It was just like stepping into a time capsule.
I don't understand some people's criticism of the acting as wooden. I found it anything but. Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone) is a fantastic dramatic actor who is stereotyped too much from his Oceans movie roles. Here, he steels the movie from Pine, Foster, and the rest. Not that Pine and Foster were bad - they were pitch perfect as the determined and focused rescuers with lives of their own. As the Commander, Eric Bana gave the film's most thankless role everything he could.
I thought Holliday Grainger was a revelation as the spunky and unconventional Miriam. The subplot with her pushiness and combativeness was well told and did an excellent job of providing context.
As for the action, it was magnificent with the saga well told both in magnitude of the task, dissension on the big boat, human courage and weakness in the face of death, and of course, the rescue itself. I did go to the 3D version and the effects and motion of the waves made that well worth it for me. It is a great film for the entire family.