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Critics Consensus: Old-fashioned to a fault, The Finest Hours will satisfy those seeking a traditional rescue drama - but may leave more adventurous viewers wanting more.
Critic Consensus: Old-fashioned to a fault, The Finest Hours will satisfy those seeking a traditional rescue drama - but may leave more adventurous viewers wanting more.
All Critics (183) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (117) | Rotten (66) | DVD (2)
I expected nothing special and wound up being thoroughly exhilarated.
Too few of Hollywood's recent offerings can boast such a simple throughline and know when to wrap it up.
A remarkable tale, confusingly told. Impressive storm sequences and a very good Pine almost save the day.
Maybe it's just the History Channel junkie in me, but I would much rather be seeing a documentary about this mission than a trumped-up drama featuring brand-name actors and CGI squalls.
It feels like a parody of a prestige film, like one of the fake Oscar trailers in "Tropic Thunder."
A straight-up Boys' Own adventure yarn, set sincerely and squarely in early '50s New England but gussied up with plenty of 21st-century StormWave CGI.
Pine, Affleck and the rest of the character-actor heavy cast try to instill these characters with nuance and doubt, but ultimately a heavy-handed finale overwhelms what's left of their admirable work.
Like the sea itself, [the film] is uneven and choppy at certain points, and it's at its worst when it's ashore ... Even the direction seems eager to get to the ocean.
When not aboard the squall-navigating ships, The Finest Hours succumbs to its back-of-the-box-recipe script.
Reminds us of a time when heroes didn't complain about the dangers of the job they signed up for but instead decided to go above and beyond what was expected.
Pine ... is in his element as the resolute rescuer. His character is heroic, but in the strong, silent kind of way. Enjoy movies about daring rescues? Go watch this.
Overall, it's wholesome, life-affirming and a terrific ringing testament to the courage these men displayed.
Based on the true story in 1952, The Finest Hours is about a US Coastguard station being deployed in an attempt to save a crew of an oil tanker that has split into two. The genre of biographical disaster movies is slowly becoming more saturated, particularly those with a serious perspective. The difference this time is that Disney has taken charge of the production which meant this film turned out to be an old-fashioned rescue drama that I thought was much needed. Firstly the cast was good, it was varied from veterans such as Eric Bana and Casey Affleck to more mainstream actors including Chris Pine and Ben Foster. Thankfully this film does not thrive of great performances, it is a visual story and director Craig Gillespie (Million Dollar Arm) knew this, hence the focus on great weather visuals and the destruction of the oil tanker. Pleasant effects but a few fully rendered human characters did not look great and did take away from the realism slightly. The story was very old-fashioned and I found that refreshing especially in 2016 where films try to be different for the sake of it. At the core, it's all about heroism and braving nature when the odds are against you, essentially human persistence and determination into saving other lives. The production design was great, the period setting of 1952 was well lifted. The beginning was standard character introductions, the middle was the rescue mission and the ending was the attempt at getting back in time. All of this being intertwined with a love story. That is where the problem lies, it is very mechanical and predictable. We have probably come to expect this from a Disney production but whilst I personally felt this was a good choice, some might be left wanting more. I mean it is nothing new, it's just a standard rescue story yet it's handled with such care that it is hard not to appreciate. The soundtrack was also well integrated, very traditional and reminded me of films from the 80's and 90's. The credits was a noteworthy part of the film in the fact that they show the photos of the crew and the coastguard station from 1952, definitely brings the additional realism that the film requires. Overall, The Finest Hours was a fine rescue drama with great visuals and a hearty story about heroism, although the old-fashioned pacing may leave viewers wanting more. - Review at: http://www.themoviediorama.com
Super Reviewer
Despite great special effects, the script is a wreck and the talented cast give completely underwhelming performances. Drowning in silly Disney naivety and sentimentality, this project should have been scuttled before it ran aground on the big screen.
Everyone does their best "quiet and unassuming" in this Disney heroic family paean to whitebread. Within those limits, and using that crazy CGI tech to simulate kra-kra-crazy waterworks, a simple story, simply told. Nothing offensive here (excepting the idea of hiding in plain sight that yer being offensive), move along, move along. I enjoyed the actors, especially Bana, working their accents.
Going into "The Finest Hours," I was very hesitant, as the trailers gave away a lot of the film. I was able to forgive that this time as this is based on a true story and many people may already know what happens. Being produced by Disney, I expected a lot of schmaltz, and even though it is there to get the tears jerking, it is very effective. Bernie Webber (Chris Pine) leads an unlikely crew of four men as they are out to rescue the crew of a ship that has split in half. Cutting back and forth between the two boats was very intense and put me on the edge of my seat. Sadly, that is not the only focus of the film. As the audience finally get's swept up in this epic story of survival and rescue, the film cut back to shore where we follow Bernie's girlfriend, worried and desperate to help. Instead she slides her car into snow banks and does uninteresting things to pad out the running time. Overall, this is a very effective film and by the end, the moments with his girlfriend on shore end up being worth while, so it is forgivable. Is this the most memorable film of all time? No, but if you want to go to the theatre for some good-ol'-fashioned escapism, this may be the film for you. A very enjoyable adventure that has familiar elements throughout the entire picture.
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