We all live or we all die.
The film documents the true story of the most daring U.S. Coast Guard rescue in history, taking place in 1951, from the viewpoint of rescuer Bernie Weber (Chris Pine) and his crew.
The Finest Hours' biggest strength is its visual effects. There's a lot of truly realistic and dangerous visual display here in this movie. I truly felt like I was about to fall in the water from time to time during this rescue mission. Kudos to the production crew for making this work. I didn't see it in 3D, but it might would have made the experience more immersive.
The actors are genuine and do nicely also. Pine is terrific, with his convincing Boston accent making him fairly unrecognizable at times. Casey Affleck, Ben Foster and Eric Bana do terrific jobs as supporting characters, while Holiday Grainger (from last year's Cinderella) does a great job as Miriam. I liked the fact that her character was given more-than-enough time onscreen back at home between that and the rescue itself. While the characters aren't given much development, the actors do a great job making you care about their characters (this especially becomes evident when one worker unexpectedly dies).
The production design and costume design are well-done and appropriately reflect the rescue's era. Carter Burwell (who composed the music for this and Hail Caesar!) once again gives a solid score, including an appropriately slow score during the end credits. The true story images in the end credits are terrific.
On the downside, while technically-proficient in its rescue scenes, I felt The Finest Hours non-rescue scenes to drag on a little too much at times. It takes a little while for the film to really get going on its rescue. The romance at the beginning is very sweet and smile-inducing without being schmaltzy, but then the film relies on a few other conversations before really getting to the action. A few other scenes work (mostly with Grainger), but especially on the ride back home, it goes on a little longer than it should. The movie would have been a bit more effective if about 10-15 minutes had been cut off some of the slower scenes.
Also, the film doesn't carry much of a sense of humor. A couple of nice, 1950's-era jokes early on aside, the film doesn't offer much in the way of comic relief from all the intense moments. In this way, The Finest Hours becomes a little too serious sometimes and even becomes slightly melancholic in its tone due to not having much to lighten everyone up.
Disney has a penchant for bringing true stories to the big screen. Mostly in sports movies, The Finest Hours represents a slightly more mature departure for the Mouse House. Originally set to open to compete in awards season last year, it was moved to January of this year because apparently, its not awards worthy.
And that's somewhat true. While thoughtfully-directed and very well-cast, The Finest Hours just doesn't offer anything particularly memorable or ground-breaking. It's refreshingly old-fashioned and has a lot of awesome, smile-worthy, and emotionally-convincing moments, but it drags some in-between and utilizes some familiar tropes. And families looking for something to take their kids to may be a bit surprised by some of the content issues.
I liked it better than director Craig Gillespie's previous Disney movie Million Dollar Arm, but its not the best Disney true story film either. This is more Glory Road than McFarland, USA and Secretariat.
Its' a good, solid film, but its not anything particularly special.
Score: 7.1/10
Content Problems Families Should Be Aware Of:
Language: Strong for a movie with the Disney logo on it. We hear a half-dozen uses of "h---", three each of "d---" and "my g--", two of "J---s!" (and one cut short), and one each of "g--d---" and "screw you".
Adult Content: Someone says "cut off your p...." (but its cut short by a fist slammed on the table). A few kisses. A blurred image of a pin-up girl poster (wearing a bathing suit).
Violence: The Finest Hours earns its PG-13 rating for some scenes that might be frightening for younger children. A tanker is literally struck in half, with many pieces falling and breaking violently. Various crewmen fall and are apparently hurt. The tanker is nearly capsized by a wave. As for Bernie and his crew, they run into several intense waves that nearly do them in. Someone is killed by being smashed into the tanker in a rescue effort (we see a brief blood trickle from the nose as he drowns and falls to the ocean floor). A lifeboat is smashed to pieces. Another tanker tips over and capsizes, to the horror of a crew member on an adjacent boat.
Drugs/Alcohol: One scene shows beer and another unknown alcoholic drink being served.
Other: Bernie goes against his commander's orders by shutting off his radio on the way back. Some may object to Miriam proposing to Bernie, instead of the other way around.
