Film Review: In the Heart of the Sea

 Genre: Action, Adventure, Biography

Cert: 12A

Director: Ron Howard

Screen writer: Charles Leavitt (screenplay)  and Rick Jaffa (story) & Amanda Silver (story)

Nathaniel Philbrick   ... (book "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex")  

Starring: Chris Hemsworth ,  Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson , Ben Whishaw , Michelle Fairley , Tom Holland , Paul Anderson , Frank Dillane , Joseph Mawle , Edward Ashley , Sam Keeley , Osy Ikhile, Gary Beadle , Jamie Sives

Running time: 122 min

Parents advised to read before viewing film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.

Sex & Nudity: No nudity in this film.

Violence & Gore:

• The film contains scenes depicting sailors cutting up a whale carcass into pieces and extracting oil from the animals blubber. In one instance, a young boy is told to scrap off the last bits of oil from the carcass cavity. The boy squeezes through a small opening on top of the body and lands in a puddle of oil that is mixed with the animals blood.

• The film also contains some intense sequences where a whale is seen assaulting a ship and harassing the boats that are carrying survivors. During these assaults, some sailors are thrown overboard and killed by the whales attacks. The attacks are somewhat prolonged and depicted with some bloodletting.

Profanity:  Damns, hells, 1 bullshit, the Lord's name is misused a few times. 

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: Periodic smoking and drinking. 

Frightening/Intense Scenes:  The film contains verbal references to cannibalism. It is implied through a survivors dialogue that the stranded crew had committed cannibalism as a last resort to preserve their lives. The survivor briefly describes how they had prepared the body and eaten the heart first. At one point, out of desperation, the survivors are seen drawing lots to determine the next person to be sacrificed.

Story: In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. "In the Heart of the Sea" reveals the encounter's harrowing aftermath, as the ship's surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down.

Likes : I did some digging on this film i actually found out this is based on true events that inspired the fiction story of moby dick to be written. Clearly most everyone know the story of moby dick a massive whale that ahab called the great white devil of the sea who he was hell bend on killing & taking the beast down at the cost of his own life.

Well this story is a telling of true events that happened in 1820 that no one back in the day could believe, my theory is that what they encountered was a prehistoric whale maybe the last of it kind.

The film itself is compelling in a way that it draw you in not once do you eye stray from the film, as it heart pound intense moments when you see the attack happen to the courage of the survivor determination to make it home alive.

 Out of the 21 men who made it out alive in the true event, only eight eventually survived the ordeal in the open sea, and there are accounts from two – one, the ship's first mate Owen Chase; and two, a 14-year-old cabin boy named Thomas Nickerson who waited 55 years to write his side of the story which ended up lost until 1980.

This is an incredible story in the nature of the sea & how so many ways it can kill you, specially the special effect & visual effect really sells the film content story makes for a brutal gripping adventure of trying to survive the attack of a relentless beast of the sea.

This truly is worth check out & a film recommend watching iver at the cinema on Dvd / blu-ray you wont be dispointed.

Dislikes : Nothing wrong with this film.

Overall : Compelling story of survival & courage, great acting, Brilliant C.G.I work

Rating: 5 out of 5 for entertainment / 8.2 out of 10 for concept