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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.



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