The Finest Hours Review

The Finest Hours is a movie based on the true story about the sinking of the SS Pendleton and the US Coast Guards attempt to rescue it's crew.  The movie does a decent job of showing both sides of this epic rescue.  You get to see how the crew of the SS Pendleton, led by Casey Affleck, had to stick together and try to keep the boat afloat as long as possible so they could hopefully get off the ship.  On the other side you see Chris Pine and the Coast Guard brave hard weather conditions to try and save the SS Pendleton's crew.

What I liked most about The Finest Hours was the story.  It was just a simple rescue movie.  They didn't try to over complicate it with someone evil trying to stop the heroes from saving the day.  I enjoyed getting to see what the crew on the SS Pendleton had to go through while waiting for someone to save them.  They didn't just sit around.  Casey Affleck's character had to convince those on board to work together to determine a way to keep the boat afloat.  With Chris Pine's character you got to watch him try to get over his lack of confidence when it came to getting in a boat to try and save someone.  But this is also one aspect of the story I felt that was lacking.  They hinted a lot about Pine's character having experienced a tragic event where he failed to rescue someone.  I felt like it would have been better if they had actually started the movie by showing that event.  It would have been great to allow us, the audience, to experience what he went through so we can emotionally understand what happened and go through the journey of overcoming that ordeal.

Another part of the story I didn't like was the love story between Pine's character and Holliday Grainger.  I felt that they both did a solid job acting in the movie, I just didn't care much for their romance.  They didn't share enough screen time to get invested in their relationship.

The special effects in The Finest Hours were a mixed bag for me.  I felt that when Pine and his crew were on their little boat going out to rescue the SS Pendleton, the special effects were great when they zoomed out and showed the boat going across the ocean and trying to get over the giant waves.  But when they zoomed in on the boat itself and showed the crew getting splashed with water it just felt like a Hollywood backlot.  I think overall though that's a problem for all films that involve a water rescue.

Overall I thought The Finest Hours was an entertaining rescue movie.  The story was simple yet very important when it comes to the history of the US Coast Guard and showing what they experience when trying to rescue people even in the harshest of conditions.  I feel that emotionally the movie could have done a better job but I was still on the edge of my seat during the main rescue scenes.  I think that if you were looking for a movie to see in the theaters, you can't go wrong with picking The Finest Hours.

3 1/2 Stars