IMAX 3D was made for "The Finest Hours" -- Excellent film

Rating: 9/10 (30 January 2016)

IMAX 3D was made for "The Finest Hours." The technology is fully exploited and realized as it takes you in to the immediacy of the fact-based story. I didn't expect much. So many films made for 3D and/or IMAX are strong on FX and weak on story. At my age, story is paramount, and if the FX can be enlisted to that end, we could get a good film. "The Finest Hours" is an excellent film.
So many of the films for IMAX 3D are fantasies which probably would have engaged me in my younger days, but as I've aged I have increasingly related more to "true" or "real" stories like "The Finest Hours." I'll also mention that it was a relief to everyone in our party to not be subjected to a barrage of what is euphemistically called "language." That has become the movie norm in an effort to dial up realism or tension or whatever. None of the people in my life ever talk that way and "The Finest Hours" demonstrates that realism and tension are both well off without it.
IMHO, "The Finest Hours" was excellently cast and excellently performed. The two male leads both give subtly nuanced performances as just plain guys trying to do their jobs and not seeking recognition or leadership positions, who find themselves in situations forcing them to take charge, and portraying their gradual personal progression as they have "greatness thrust upon them."
In IMAX 3D, the effects are jaw-dropping. One review, an outlier, complains that the price of 3D is reduced brightness. I thought it was worth every penny. Another review complains that the film lacks human drama. The writers' adaptation from fact to film story and script relies on some well-worn devices, but everyone in my party thought it succeeded beautifully in limning consistent and plausible back stories, portraying women of implacable strength in what might have been strictly a male story, and wrapping the whole tale in a tender romance.
I'm interested now in reading the book. In case you are too, note that there are two versions, one for Young Adults.