In 1851, “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville was published. Ever since then, it has been acknowledged as one of the best books to ever be released and an all-time American classic. Melville was inspired to write the book by the real-life tale of “The Essex of Nantucket.” This was a whale ship that capsized by an enormous Sperm Whale in the Pacific Ocean in 1820. The crew had to do whatever they could to survive. The ship lost a large amount of its crew and only eight had survived.

The newly released “In the Heart of the Sea” tells the story of the Essex and its crew. It does well at aiming to give an authentic experience of being on a whaling ship. It truly feels like you are right there with the crew as they go through their trials and tribulations of sea life. You see all the action that goes on with the ship when decisions are made, and the camera work really helps build the atmosphere.

The film does well to build up to the event of the sinking. Characters are developed well, and none of them are uninteresting. The actors also do a great job. Some of the most notable performances were by two veteran actors and a newcomer.

Cillian Murphy and Chris Hemsworth both do a great job in their respective parts. Both are known better for their parts in superhero movies. Murphy for the Dark Knight series, and Hemsworth for the Thor series. This is not a huge change of pace for the two, but they perform well nonetheless. One of the best performances in the whole film was by Tom Holland. Holland is a relatively unknown actor but after his fantastic performance as sailor Thomas Nickerson, he could soon become a household name. Expect to hear this guy’s name a lot more in the future.

One of the best aspects of the movie is the makeup. When the sailors are lost at sea and are starving, they really look like they are truly starving. Faces and bodies are skinny and bony, lips are chapped, faces look burnt, and their hair looks bleached from the sun’s rays. The movie truly looks authentic.

Unfortunately, the film advertises itself as an action movie about one man against one whale. In reality, this is not the case. It is an epic story of survival that truly shows the will to survive. However, this may have made a negative impact, as most bad advertising does. Many have criticized this film for not being enough of a massive action spectacle, but that does not make this a bad film.

Sadly, this movie has not been doing well at the box-office, even though it’s definitely a movie meant to be seen in theaters.

This movie truly is great. It is not one of the best of the year, and it will likely not win many awards, but it will leave you thinking about it long after the movie has ended, and you will wonder if you could have survived like those brave men did.