THE FINEST HOURS – The Review

Toss on the life jackets (or as they were called during WWII, “Mae Wests”) and prepare yourself for a nautical thriller, one “inspired by true events” (barely a month into 2016 and here’s the second “non-fiction” flick after 13 HOURS). Now it’s not a wartime actioner with destroyers battling subs. As you may have gathered from the numerous TV spots, this story is more of “man versus Mother Nature” one, along the lines of THE PERFECT STORM from way back in 2000. Since then we’ve seen film heroes fighting storms and killer waves in LIFE OF PI, ALL IS LOST, and the very recent (maybe six weeks) IN THE HEART OF THE SEA. This new flick is not set a couple hundred years ago like that whale-hunting adventure, only 64 years next month. This is a tale of determination and courage exemplified by the US Coast Guard in one of the most astounding sea rescues, often referred in maritime legend and lore as THE FINEST HOURS.

The quiet seacoast village of Chatham, MA is where we first encounter Coast Guard Boatswain’s Mate First Class Bernard Webber (Chris Pine) in late 1951 as he meets Miriam (Holliday Grainger), on a blind date that a buddy has arranged. Jump ahead a few months, and things are going so well that the two decide to marry. Although as a formality, Bernie needs to get the OK from his boss, Warrant Officer Cluff (Eric Bana). But it’s a hectic day as a brutal “nor’ easter” storm is approaching. Meanwhile, ten miles off the coast, the T2 oil tanker SS Pendleton is being pummeled by said storm. First assistant engineer Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck) pleads over the ship’s phone with the captain to reduce speed. When Ray gets no response he sends one of the crew to run to the ship’s bow with an update. The sailor is horrified to see that the bow is gone (a great effects shot), the ship has split in two with the front half sinking into the sea. Ray must try to find a way to steer his half into the shoal while several crewmen insist that they use the lifeboats (useless against the violent wind and waves). Back at Chatham Station, the radio picks up distress calls from another tanker, SS Fort Mercer, but a closer radar blip shows up, the Pendleton. Cluff orders Webber to head out in the 36 foot wooden motor lifeboat the CG36500 with three others, just as Miriam shows up. She pleads with Bernie not to go, but he knows that they are the only hope for those men at sea. Despite his courage, can they make their way through the storm before Ray and his men perish?

As the soft-spoken, awkward Webber, Pine is almost playing the inverse of the film role that has brought him enormous success-the cocky younger rebooted Captain James T Kirk. There’s a sweetness to the shy sailor in the opening courtship sequences, but this almost works against the big action set pieces at the film’s center. His determination is admirable, but he almost merges with the steering wheel with his low key persona. Grainger is nearly the polar opposite as Miriam, whose personality runs over her usually passive fiancee. After the dreamy “meet cute” intro, she often comes off as strident and overbearing (almost emasculating) when she invades the CG station.
She’s particularly grating at she spouts an almost endless mantra to Cluff- “Call him back in. Call him back in. Call…etc.”. It’s a shame that the script does not serve the talented Ms. G. At least their characters are given more personality than the rest of the cast. Affleck  is convincing as the voice of calm and reason on the floundering tanker, going from being MacGyver, rigging a way to steer, to a the Mr. Spock-like logical debater with a sailor insisting on using the lifeboats. Bana has little to do beside trotting out a Southern drawl, looking concerned, and being exasperated with Miriam.

The most underused may be Ben Foster as Webber’s co-captain on the rescue boat, who offers little beyond a world-weary cynicism. What is an incredibly inspiring true tale of courage is seriously scuttled by an inconsistent script, despite solid direction by Craig Gillespie. The three screenwriters attempt to mesh an intimate character study/romance with epic adventure making the finished piece neither fish nor fowl. Once the Chatham group is aware of the Pendleton’s plight, the movie settles into a pattern: Bernie’s boys getting  tossed about the waves like a game of “hot potato”, cut to the antics of the increasingly abrasive Miriam, then cut away to the sullen Sybert arguing with his crew as the water seeps in. The repetitive rhythms wear down the most dedicated film goer ( losing 20 minutes might’ve made the whole thing a bit more buoyant). The thick “Baaasten” accents also wear thin (“Hey Webbah’! Webbah’!”) even as they mock Cluff’s ultra-genteel deep South twang. Perhaps due to the Disney label (the ole’ castle logo opens the flick), there are no rough edges to these hard-bitten sea dogs (there’s no one that “cusses’ like a sailor”). At least the vintage fashions and autos (love those tank-like behemoths) are great eye candy. Oh, and the 3D upconvert doesn’t add anything aside constant sea spray The real-life heroes deserve to be remembered while the soggy, water-logged, dreary dramatics of THE FINEST HOURS will be forgotten. Film overboard!

1.5 Out of 5