Movie: The Finest Hours

The Finest Hours:  a rescue at sea & romance combo.  The advertisements for this movie center on the fact that it is a true story of a miraculous rescue at sea.  The opening scene, however, is the first date between Coast Guardsman Bernie Webber (Chris Pine)and his bride to be, Miriam (Holliday Grainger).  In fact, a significant portion of the film is devoted to their love story.  The time is Winter 1951 and the location is Cape Cod.  The focus remains on the Bernie/Miriam romance until February 1952, when the couple become engaged.  At this point, the film finally switches, for the most part, to the massive storm and the subsequent rescue.  The rescue is dramatic and, to this day, remains the most successful Coast Guard small boat rescue on record.  Webber and his 3-man crew accomplish something no less than spectacular in dealing with an oil tanker split in two during an extreme Atlantic winter storm.  The scenes involving the floating half of the tanker are the strongest parts of this movie as are the scenes with Webber and crew crossing a sandbar to get to the tanker.  During the run of the credits, we learn that Bernie and Miriam were together for 58 years, which is wonderful.  The movie, however, has a distinct Hallmark ambience and too much of the 117 minutes are devoted to Miriam.  The exceptions are those scenes involving Miriam’s conversations with a widow who lost her husband in a similar storm.  Rachel Brosnahan gives a strong performance as the widow.  Casey Affleck, as the chief engineer who manages to keep the tanker afloat long enough for Webber to arrive, also turns in a strong performance.  Unfortunately, The Finest Hours may also have provided 2016’s worse performance in a supporting role.  Eric Bana is terrible as Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Cluff, Webber’s commander, and his attempts at mimicking a Southern accent are abysmal.  The movie’s director is Craig Gillespie.  The scenes at sea work, especially those on the tanker.  The same cannot be said for the far too abundant scenes on land.