The Finest Hours

Plot synopsis:
This film is based on a true story.Wellfleet, Massachusetts, November 1951.Bernie Webber (Chris Pine) and his friend are meeting two ladies for a date. Bernie hasn't met this woman yet and is nervous that she won't like how he looks. When they do meet, they are instantly attracted to each other. Her name is Miriam Penttinen (Holliday Grainger). The two couples go out for the night, ending it on a boat that Bernie, a coast guard, can ride. Before getting on the boat, Miriam kisses Bernie.Four months later (February 17, 1952).Bernie and Miriam are together at a dance. Miriam asks Bernie if he'll marry her. He says 'no', driving her to tears and she runs out of the building. Bernie follows her out and explains that he does want to marry her, but feels that he cannot due to his job. She assures him that she'll stick with him no matter what, and Bernie decides that he definitely wants to marry her.Meanwhile, on a stormy night, two oil tankers, SS Fort Mercer and SS Pendleton, are sailing on the ocean amidst heavy winds and pouring rain. The storm becomes so intense that the waves hit the boat hard until one such wave breaks a hole into the ship. Water starts to spill inside and throw the men all over the place. The damage gets so bad that the ship splits in two, and Mercer sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Knowing they have to stay afloat until they can be rescued, engineer Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck) suggests they run the boat aground to keep it up steadily. The men prepare themselves for this.Bernie is assigned by his superior Daniel Cluff (Eric Bana) to take the CG 36500 motorboat to go out and rescue the men. Bernie brings with him Richard Livesley (Ben Foster), Andy Fitzgerald (Kyle Gallner), and Ervin Maske (John Magaro) to help.The men on the boat work hard to steer the boat aground, though a few of them try to escape on a lifeboat. Ray cuts the rope to the boat and lets it drop. The boat hits the water and is quickly destroyed against the side of the ship.The coast guard men ride through the storm across the treacherous water. They get hit with waves that nearly throw them off their boat, but they hang on tight and continue to brave the storm.Miriam arrives at the station and tearfully demands that Cluff bring Bernie and the others back, knowing how terrible the storm is. Cluff refuses and orders Miriam out of the office. She leaves and drives away, accidentally losing control of the car and driving into a mound of snow where the car gets stuck. Miriam is picked up by a woman who happens to be the wife of Carl Nickerson (Matthew Maher), the man that reported the tankers sinking, making him indirectly responsible for why Bernie and his friends are out in the storm. Carl gets Miriam's car out of the mound.The engineers finally manage to run the ship aground and keep it standing long enough until the coast guard finally arrive. It is noted that there are too many men to fit on the one boat, but they insist on trying. They drop a Jacob's ladder down, and the men slowly start to descend. Some of them fall into the water but are pulled onto the motorboat. Others jump and are caught by Richard, Andy, and Ervin. One man, the ship's cook Tiny Myers (Abraham Benrubi), falls into the water and is killed when his head is struck by the tanker. Ray is the last man to make it onto the boat. The Pendleton slowly loosens and sinks.Bernie calls the station back and informs them that they rescued the men but lost their compass and have no way of making it back to the shore. As the men sail back, Miriam and multiple citizens bring their cars around to the shoreline and flash their headlights to give the men a signal. They make it back and are cheered on as heroes. Bernie and Miriam embrace and kiss.The final text states that Bernie Webber, Andy Fitzgerald, Richard Livesley, and Ervin Maske were seen as heroes. Bernie and Miriam were married until his death in 2009.

Tags: tragedy, romantic

Review:
If you have seen the movie's trailer (which as been inescapable in the theaters in recent weeks), you know exactly what you are in for: a bigger-than-life, against-all-odds rescue attempt of the crew of the Pendleton tanker, which has split in two, by a four man crew of the Coast Guard in Chatham, MA.
Also make sure to stay through the movie's end titles, as we then get a bunch of period pictures from the Boston Globe and other news sources with the real life people from the events (and likely the source of the costuming for the film).
The U.S. Coast Guard has played a role in many movies over the years, but only a few have placed this service branch directly in the heart of the story  most recently The Guardian (2006), which was little more than a cheesy, too-talkative water-based rip-off of Top Gun. Director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, 2007) takes a much different approach as he presents a look at one of the most legendary and heroic real-life rescues in Coast Guard history.The Oscar-nominated writing team behind The Fighter (2010): Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson have collaborated on the screenplay based on the book from Casey Sherman and Michael J Touglas.
It combines a boat-load (sorry) of tension-filled ocean-based sequences with some pretty interesting character-based sub-plots within a Massachusetts community that has become all too familiar with storm-based catastrophes.Chris Pine stars as Bernie Webber, an awkwardly shy and obsessive rule-follower, who has lived under a cloud of doubt ever since a previous rescue mission failed, resulting in the death of a local fisherman/husband/father.
It should be noted that Bana the Australian, tosses out a laughable southern accent that is a joke within the movie and within the theatre (for different reasons).Bernie and his crew: Richard Livesay (Ben Foster), Andy Fitzgerald (Kyle Gallner), and Ervin Maske (John Magaro), take off against all odds in a too-small boat against too-big waves in a desperate attempt to rescue the tanker crew that includes brilliant engineer Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck) and characters played by John Ortiz and Graham McTavish.
Of course, we know how the story ends, but the heroic efforts against a very powerful Mother Nature show-of-force make for compelling movie watching.The special effects are stout, though not be as spectacular as The Perfect Storm (2010) or In the Heart of the Sea (2015), and it's the human-factor that provides more than enough thrills, excitement, and tension.
However, the relations between the sailors ( in the ship and at the land were somewhat superficially done and yes, you get that some of them are not liking each other, but, why is that is not rally explained and I though it should have been)The love story that also goes parallel to the disaster at sea is sometimes sweet but most of the time is kinda blah and maybe it should have been cut in entirety from the film.
The Finest Hours tells the harrowing and courageous true story of the most daring rescue mission that the U.S. Coast Guard has, to this day, ever had to accomplish.
Starring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster and Josh Stewart, the film's cast is stacked to the brim with talent but the director, Craig Guillesspe takes away from their efforts by telling the story in the sappiest of ways.
The film starts with Bernie Webber (Chris Pine) on a blind date with his friend as he looks forward to meeting Miriam (Holliday Grainger), the woman he has been talking on the phone with for months on end.
The least successful story is a romance between Pine's character and a local girl who somehow manages to afford a car on a switchboard operator's salary, walks through snowdrifts in high heels without slipping or marring her shine, defies convention and embarrasses her boyfriend by proposing marriage, and barges into the all-male preserve of the Coast Guard station to demand that the commander commit an unconscionable act of cowardice in an exchange that might have been ghostwritten by the screenwriter's five- year-old daughter.
Chris Pine (good ol' Cap't Kirk) stars as Bernie Webber a mid-level Coast Guard officer who is flung into the forefront when an oil barge splits in half in very rough sees during a storm.
Ben Foster, John Ortiz, Michael Raymond James and good ol' Abraham Benrubi are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, of wonderful character actors filling the roles of other Coast Guard members and crewmen of the doomed ship.Only Holliday Grainger as Pine's strong-willed fiancé fails for me, but I blame a weak written character more than her acting for that one.But, make no mistake, it is the action that makes this movie exciting.
The finest hours is a film based off an incredible true story, But the film itself is not so incredible.Based off a daring coast guard rescue mission, The film tells the story of Bernie Webber {Chris Pine} who sets out to save a group of people on a sinking ship.The direction by Craig Gillespie fails to bring justice to the real life incident and the pace is just awful, The cast led by Chris Pine and Casey Affleck seem to be sleep walking through the film, The only things i liked about it was some of the effects and some of the score.The film poorly tells what happened in an ineffective way and i rather watch a documentary about what happened.
This is another by-the-numbers Disney film, that turns an incredible true story into a series of shortchanged and theatrical instances of peril that has numerous studio executives crossing their fingers, hoping it will somehow lumber its way to be a huge financial hit in a season when few films of more than average quality are out.If all of Disney's eggs are in "The Finest Hours"'s basket, as I'm sure they aren't but just for the sake of argument, then it simply shows what this time of the year really does to Hollywood.
There's nothing fundamentally nor glaringly wrong with "The Finest Hours" other than it's a painfully average, uninteresting slog that does so very little to assure any kind of practical methods were taken to really get to the heart of the helpless characters and those brave enough to embark on what seemed like nothing more than a suicide mission.The film revolves around Bernie Webber (Chris Pine), a member of the Coast Guard stationed in Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Bernie's duties are pretty laidback, until the same day he plans to ask his commander Daniel Cluff (Eric Bana) for permission to marry Miriam (Holliday Grainger), the girl of his dreams, he is ordered to guide a lifeboat and a small crew to rescue the S.S. Pendleton.
The gigantic ship has just broken in half after getting caught in a violent nor'easter off the coast of Cape Cod, and Bernie and his three-men crew have to figure out a way to track down the ship and rescue as many or all of its thirty-two passengers.This is exactly the kind of remarkable story that we would be calling implausible had it not been based on a true story (same goes for films like "Argo" and even "Trumbo"), and because of that, it's a film that was ostensibly going to be a bit alienating from the start.
"The Finest Hours" doesn't go for the survivalist route of "All is Lost," showing its characters at their most helpless and hopeless, nor does it opt for spectacle as it revolves around two developed characters like in "The Perfect Storm." What's left for "The Finest Hours" to do is produce a simple, well-shot action film that does a good job at giving us a chronological timeline of the Coast Guard/Pendleton rescue back in 1952, but nothing else.
I believe that I got to this situation for two reasons.First,the plot wasn't been managed well.For example,the HYPE scenes where you actually thrilled are too short and involved with bad effects that makes you not comfortable and bored.Second,except Chris Pine and Holliday Grainger the acting was very bad and not convenience enough something that made feel not emotionally connected with the characters.
"In the coast guard they say you go out, they don't say you gotta come back."Director Craig Gillespie and Disney team up once again following their 2014 film, Million Dollar Arm. This time the true story is based on the 1952 Coast Guard rescue attempt at Cape Cod. The film counts with a stellar cast starting from the always charismatic Chris Pine, and including some strong supporting performances from the likes of Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Holliday Grainger, and John Magaro.
Chris Pine is Bernie Webber, a shy man who follows orders and likes to do things by the books, while Holliday Grainger is Miriam, a woman who is set on going after what she want.
It tells the story of one of the most daring and dangerous U.S. Coast Guard missions in history as Bernie Webber, played by Pine, led a crew aboard a motor boat to save the survivors of the splitting of the SS Pendleton.First off, it's unbelievable that this is even a true story.
Grainger was good in the role, but the time spent on the motor boat and Affleck's crew on the ship was much more intriguing.Another understandable complaint this film has been getting is its noticeable CGI.
a gem very underrated (in fact, I think until now, Tomorrowland is the best Disney movie outside the animated jewels that they posses, because the originality of their story and its message).Maybe they need a new brand for the promotion of really good movies like this one, or another kind of publicity, or a different approach to the audience, because the Disney brand is resulting a bad reference for the promotion of some of their greatest films.My final thought is: If you like an adventure movie and with the human touch, you must watch this movie..
Meanwhile Chris Pine's by-the-book Bernie, a Coast Guard who has recently tasted failure in his line of work, must overcome personal adversity and harsh conditions in his rescue attempt undertaken in a small boat with a crew of only four.
The Finest Hours chronicles one of their most dangerous rescue attempts that will make you glad to be wrapped in blanket on those cold nights.It is 1952 where Coast Guard crewman Bernie Webber (played by Chris Pine) makes a life for himself in Chatham, Massachusetts where he meets and falls in love with a young woman, Miriam Pentinen (played by Holiday Grainger).
Despite having a small boat, his compass gone and cold weather beating him up, he still attempts one of the craziest rescues in military history.The Finest Hours has plenty of material to make a great story from a likable real life solider to a stormy sea that even Moby Dick would have found too rough.
If these people don't see this as something major, then why should it's audience?The best thing about the movie are the two stars, Chris Pine and Casey Affleck who are both playing different kinds of leaders.
A story of humans risking their own lives to help other humans lifts our spirits—and perhaps reminds us of the value inherent in each one of us.So does The Finest Hours—the rescue movie from Disney opening this weekend— deliver?The movie stars Chris Pine and Casey Affleck and is the true story of the 1952 Coast Guard rescue of men whose oil tanker literally broke in half during a violent storm.
The actual story is pretty incredible, considering the odds against the men in the hull of the tanker and the odds against the small Coast Guard boat.What makes any rescue movie so poignant for the viewer is a connection with the characters.
The Finest Hours attempted to do this by giving us some back story on Bernie Webber (played by Chris Pine), the man leading the rescue.
I really loved this movie because it is in 3D which makes everything appear to be coming right at you and you feel like you are a part of the film, especially during the ocean scenes.
The film was written by Eric Johnson, Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy; and it's based on the 2009 book 'THE FINEST HOURS: THE TRUE STORY OF THE U.S. COAST GUARD'S MOST DARING SEA RESCUE', by Michael J.
Based on true events this movie provides a super show and merits a top vote.Set in 1952 the film tells the story of a small group of coast guards attempting to rescue men aboard a tanker that had split in half and seemed to be doomed.Fabulously graphic special effects, with 1st rate direction, this picture had me engrossed throughout.
However, I can't give this a higher score due to the flaws and the lack of these incredible thrills that made the movie worth watching.However, the schmaltzy drama in the first 15 minutes or so tries to add emotional resonance but is boring and adds way too little to the film.
I liked this film.it's set in New England1952during a massive storm at sea,which crucially damages as on oil tanker off the sea of Cae Cod.a daring Coast Guard rescue operation(with four coastguard members) is undertaken to rescue the crew of the tanker and get them home safely.this is Disney film,so sometimes the music gets a little melodramatic for my taste.but this didn't effect my enjoyment of the film.this being set in the 1950's,the women in the film are mostly relegated to the sideline.the one exception is the character of Miriam(Holliday Grainger(love interest for Chris Pine's character Bernie Webber))who is a strong female presence,but is sadly underused.also,the one black man on the doomed tanker gets one sentence the whole movie.if you can overlook these issues,you should enjoy this film.it's fast paced,thrilling and well acted.for me The Finest Hours is an 8/10.
However, when it gets the steam rolling, it produces a delightful display of blue cold waves and breaking steel.This is a real life story of the rescue of the sinking tanker in 1952 told mainly in two perspectives; the Coast Guard Bernie Webber (Chris Pine) and the tanker crew led by Sybert (Casey Affleck).
Another disappointment was Casey Affleck's performance as he was the total opposite of Pine, because he was not trying at all and looked like he was not drawn to the character or the story, even looked bored in some scenes.
Especially Eric Bana and Casey Affleck played their roles very well and I liked seeing them in this movie.Also the movie is based on a true story and I think they showed it well.
It is based on a true story in 1952 when just off the coast of New England a severe storm cracked an oil tanker the SS Pendleton into two and the US coast guard headed for a risky rescue mission.The film splits the scenes with the crew of the stricken ship, the rescue mission and the wholesome 1950s setting on the shore with the families at home waiting for better news.Casey Affleck leads the beleaguered engine room crew trying to hold the ship together to improve their chances of rescue after the vessel's officers, radar and radio equipment has been lost when it breaks apart.Coast Guard Chris Pine, just engaged to be married has been ordered to go out to sea with a small craft and a crew of four to rescue the survivors.
The peaceful town covered in snow was a great effect that went with the storm at sea.The ship's did look big and made for a lot of suspense, and watching the coast guard try to get over the giant waves of CGI waters was appealing to see.
Movies set on water seem to frequently have as high a disaster rate, as do the subjects with which they frequently deal (Water World, In the Heart of the Sea, Cutthroat Island etc.) and this seems to have suffered much the same fate.The Finest Hours features a great cast with Chris Pine and Casey Affleck both outstanding, playing similarly shy, somewhat introverted leadership roles; the former as a junior Coast Guard officer asked to mount a small-scale rescue attempt and the latter as the doomed ship's chief engineer, improvising desperately to keep the mortally damaged tanker afloat as long as possible to afford a chance of rescue for the surviving crew members.I really liked the highlighting of Holliday Grainger's Miriam.
one of the good rescue movie based on the true story first it was great screenplay,Visual effect and screen color would make believe in 1952 i am hearing turbine,engine,Pump from Casey Affleck acting scope explored in this movie very well, Ben foster having role of aside to Chris pine saying we need to get back there will be heavy storm that's shows his fear normal man would feel this always.
But everything being ok in this movie makes me not care all that much about the true story it's based on.The story revolves around crewman Bernie Webber, who is sent out with 3 others to rescue the crew of the SS Pendleton, which has been split in two by a massive storm off the coast of Massachusetts.Story short, they head out, save almost everyone, and return home safe to carry on with their lives.
Don't be put off by the Disney presence, as THE FINEST HOURS is a refreshingly old fashioned disaster-rescue movie based on a true story.
When it comes to the actual rescue mission, however, events are followed accurately and there is an extra sense of drama knowing that this part of the move happened in real life in much the same way.A rare movie that not only entertains but, being based on a true-story, also informs and inspires..
This film is based on a true story about Bernie Webber (Chris Pine) a Coast Guard sailor who was able to pull off what is considered the greatest small boat rescue in Coast Guard history.