THE FINEST HOURS (USA 2016)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 3.2|5.0 Stars ììì

The Finest Hours—boring, slow—requires stronger acting in nearly every character. The secondary love story weaving under the primary drama doesn’t have the ‘pop’ necessary to support the drama.

Storyline

Bernard ‘Bernie’ Webber (Chris Pine), who works for the United States Coast Guard, wants to marry Miriam Webber (Holliday Grainger), but first he has to get affirmation from his commanding officer Daniel Cluff (Eric Bana). Before he can consolidate his plans, he is called to duty to rescue the men on the SS Pendleton, a ship that has sheared in half during a terrifically deadly winter ocean storm.

Additional Thanks

Good Work for Director Craig Gillespie. Thank you to Executive Producer Douglas C. Merrifield for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck), Richard Livesey (Ben Foster), and Wallace Quirey (John Ortiz).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Maybe. There are stronger love stories out there and definitely stronger action stories. The primary value in watching this movie is to create awareness of the difficulty of ocean rescue efforts and as an educational watch. Excellent discussion after movie to help children understand the United States Coast Guard, another entity we have put into place to preserve human life and that shows our value of human life.

Video Critique available at:

Ben Meyers