“The Finest Hours,” directed by Craig Gillespie (“Fright Night” and “Mr. Woodcock”), released on January 29, is based on the true story of the most daring small boat rescue in U.S. Coast Guard history.
The film stars Chris Pine as Bernie Webber, captain of the boat that rescued 32 survivors off the T2 oil tanker SS Pendleton.
Recently engaged to his girlfriend Miriam, played by Holliday Grainger, Webber must go out with three other members of the Coast Guard in the middle of a blizzard to rescue the survivors of the Pendleton, which snapped in half and subsequently lost half of its crew.
The film cuts back and forth between Chris Pine’s part of the story, and Casey Affleck’s. Affleck plays Ray Sybert, an engineer on the SS Pendleton who becomes the leader of the survivors and manages to keep the ship from sinking just long enough for everyone to be rescued.
Taking place in 1952, the film is a period piece as well as being based on true events.
The characters are all from Massachusetts, minus Commander Cluff (Eric Bana) who is a transfer from the south, and is the one who sends Webber and his men out into the ocean.
Massachusetts accents are abound and consistent apart from Holliday Grainger’s accent. She’s English, though, so I guess she gets a pass.
Unfortunately, most of the actors don’t really seem to care about the characters they’re playing. Lines are delivered with little emotion, which really makes it hard to believe the characters care at all about what is going on. Only the big named stars seem to give it their all including Pine, Grainger, and Affleck.
