Skip to main content

The Finest Hours: Average Guy Movie Review

In 1952, the SS Pendleton split in half whilst caught in a storm off the Massachusetts coast. The Bow section capsized killing eight men, including the Captain. The Stern section staid afloat with thritythree men aboard. The Coast Guard sent a small boat with a crew of four to rescue the survivors. This story is known as the greatest rescue in the history of the United States Coast Guard.




Directed by Craig Gillespie, this is a very impressive movie both in terms of the story and the production. Firstly, what those men faced and what they did for a group of strangers is incredible. The fact that they found the ship in that storm is amazing, even more so because they were able to rescue so many!




A lot of work has been put in to making The Finest Hours look as real as possible. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen the part where the Sailor almost goes overboard because the bow of the ship is gone, that standard is maintained throughout. Obviously they've used a lot of CGI in a movie like this, but they haven't done a George Lucas. There are practical sets. The Pendleton set is brilliant, it can be flooded at will, if you didn't know any better you'd think it was the real thing. Ben Foster said it was the most demanding role of his career due to the amount of time spent working in cold water. This obviously hasn't hurt the movie because there are good performances all round. Apart from Chris Pine, Eric Bana, Casey Affleck and Ben Foster the cast is made up of lesser known actors. Using the same formula we've seen in movies like Independence Day, they put most of the budget into the production and had less to work with when it came to casting. But as I said before, it hasn't hurt the movie because every performance felt very genuine.




Overall I wouldn't say this is an enjoyable movie but that's because of the subject and nothing more. The movie is brilliant and does real justice to the story and all those involved without the over the top, gung ho, patriotism we've seen in similar American movies.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Road House | A Moustache Double-Bill

Firstly, I should probably point out that up until recently the high-kicking 1989 cult classic has eluded me - or maybe it was me eluding it. Who knows? Anyway, seeing that Doug Liman and Jake Gyllenhaal have taken it upon themselves to remake Road House  and put a 21st century spin on solving every problem by kicking, I figured; 'why not make it a double feature?' View the two movies for the first time one after the other and see how they measure up.  Naturally I took the chronological approach, starting with the original movie and then moving on to the remake. Watching this cult classic for the first time, I was struck by how much it feels like a feature length episode of The A-Team . Typical 80's good guy arrives in town, where he comes to blows with the rich guy/your typical A-Team  bad guy who thinks he owns the place. Seriously, stick that famous opening monologue on the beginning and have Patrick Swayze's 'Dalton' build some weird weapon from parts acquir...

A Million Ways To Die In The West | Average Guy Movie Review | Movierob's Genre Grandeur

For Movierob 's Genre Grandeur on Western Crossovers, I am looking at Seth MacFarlane's guide to surviving the old west for all those who aren't Clint Eastwood, A Million Ways To Die In The West. It follows Albert Stark (MacFarlane), a sheep herder on the frontier who seems to be the only person that sees the west for what it is; a dangerous, disease infested, unforgiving shit hole. "Hell, this was Miss America in 1880... ..."Holy Shit!"  After his girlfriend dumps him, Albert prepares to leave his hometown of Old Stump for San Francisco. But his plans are interrupted by the arrival of Anna (Charlize Theron), who shows him how to enjoy life. Unfortunately for Albert, Anna is married to Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson), one of the most dangerous outlaws in the territory and he's none too happy about Albert spending time with his wife! The story for A Million Ways To Die In The West began as a joke between MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Welles...

Jason Bourne: Spoiler Review

I don't usually write spoiler filled reviews because I don't see the point. But considering my not so positive review of Jason Bourne, one of the most highly anticipated movies of Summer 2016, I thought it might be worth trying to explain why I reached the verdict I did. If you haven't seen this movie stop reading because there are spoilers ahead. Click here to see the spoiler free review. The movie begins with Bourne in Greece. He's laying low, making money by competing in underground fights and still struggling with his past. He lacks purpose which is making him miserable. Nicky Parsons on the other hand is busy hacking the CIA in order to expose their black ops programs. So far so good. But when Nicky finds something out about Jason's (or should I say David's) past, she heads to Greece to find him. Unfortunately her activities have drawn the attention of CIA Agent Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander), a cyber ops specialist who begins to track her. Using a ...