Thrilling story sunk by conventional script

Rating: 7/10 (16 January 2020)

As someone who has lived at various places on the British coast all his life I have tremendous respect for the men of our Royal National Lifeboat Institution - all volunteers - who are willing to risk their lives to rescue others, and I love sea stories. The US Coastguard is managed by the government and has salaried officers, but on the evidence of this film they have more than their own share of guts and determination.
The best scenes in this film are undoubtedly those set at sea, the crew of the Pendleton jury-rigging a helm and nursing the hulk along until she can be run aground, and the men of CG 36500 fighting their way out to sea to save them (even if CG 36500 does develop the characteristics of a submarine a couple of times. I know lifeboats are designed to be non-sinkable, but not *that* non-sinkable). These scenes are truly edge-of-the-seat thrilling.
Unfortunately, in order to make a film, the story has to be 'dramatised'. So the Coast Guard station is commanded by an outsider mistrusted by locals who matter darkly over every decision he makes, and the hero is partly shunned as a Jonah after a failed rescue the previous year. (Is everyone around Cape Cod so sour and miserable? Just asking). On the Pendleton there is some Alpha-Male tussling for supremacy among the crew until they accept the "it's so crazy it might just work" ideas of the Chief Engineer. These back stories feel very forced and detract from the true drama of the rescue itself.
The film tells a good story, but not always in a good way. Worth watching once, but not a film to keep coming back to.