Review for The Finest Hours

Rating: 8/10 (25 February 2016)

The movie The Finest Hours is based on the true event of the wreck of an oil tanker ship in the North East Atlantic ocean. The crew of the S.S. Pendleton lose communication and have no way of notifying anyone that they are sinking. Due to the heavy storm, most of the Coast Guard has been dispatched on other rescue missions and no one is looking for the Pendleton. It's by chance that the Coast Guard is made aware of the ship and only a four men set out on a small boat, in extreme weather and current conditions, to rescue the survivors.
While there is a love story set up in the beginning, the best parts of the movie take place out at sea. There is some character development in Chris Pine's character, Boatswain Mate 1st Class Bernie Webber. Throughout the whole, movie they set up Webber to be a shy guy that always follows the rules and doesn't question his orders. There is little bits of information here and there about his past. In the end, Webber acts against his character in order to save over 20 lives and become a real hero.
There is some solid acting in this movie from all of the performers. The accents from Pine and Eric Bana were not great but not distracting either. Ben Foster was practically unrecognizable, and Casey Affleck, who plays the Chief Engineer of the Pendleton, shows a lot of the strength and confliction within his character. Actress Holliday Grainger plays Pine's love interest and does a great job playing a strong 50's lady, who is not the typical housewife type of that time. Other supporting actors also bring strong performances and you often forget the period the movie takes place in.
The visual effects in this movie are great. The shots of the boats out in the water going up against giant waves looked amazing. There were a few moments in the small boat that seemed unrealistic, but for the most part, everything on the water was done well. The grand scale of the oil tanker was a magnificent reveal. There is very good cinematography in this movie, even the snow storm on land had a great feel to it.
There is not a lot of bad in this movie. The opening scenes could have been done a little bit quicker while still establishing the characters properly. There are a few edit choices where it cuts back from the action in the water to land, that feels a bit off. Perhaps that was on purpose to undercut the suspension, but it's not that bothersome. For the most part, the movie sets everything up well and explains to the audience what is really at stake between the two ships and the characters on them.
It is amazing to think that this event ever took place, and it is nice to get a good solid Coast Guard based movie. It is like the last half of the Titanic meets The Perfect Storm, some might say it's probably not as good as those movies, but it is one of the better ship disaster movies and it being based on a true story gives it more credibility. Overall The Finest Hours is a very good movie, mostly family friendly. It has great action, suspense, and a decent love story. If you are looking for a well paced, entertaining film to enjoy, then this is a good recommendation.