The story is about the Essex, a whaling ship that was, amazingly, sunk by a whale. The story is told through a flashback from one of the survivors of the journey and follows them from just before the cruise through their eventual rescue and return to Nantucket.

While "In the Heart of the Sea" is a bit overlong, it is a tremendously well made film. The script, not surprisingly, takes a few liberties with the actual story but is, overall, essentially factual*. But what really blew me away was the look of the film-- the 1820 New England landscape, the ship and the whale attacks. While you know that most of this was done using CGI, you simply cannot tell by looking at it...it looks so amazingly real.

*Several liberties were taken. A big one is the way the story is told--by the one survivor of the Essex affair back in 1950 who relates his story to Herman Melville. Well, this didn't happen...but it does make for a neat way to tell the story, so I didn't mind this. Additionally, First Mate Chase and his post-Essex life are COMPLETELY different from the way they're portrayed in the film. In each case, the changes were made to make the film more cinematic and enjoyable but also remind you that the actual story is a tad different.

IN THE HEART OF THE SEA is an energetic and old-fashioned high seas adventure directed by Ron Howard and based on the same true story that inspired Herman Melville to write MOBY DICK. Unfortunately this leads to an extensive framing narrative involving Brendan Gleeson's salty old sea-dog and Ben Whishaw playing Melville, seeking material for his next novel. At times the narrative will be in the heart of the action before jumping back to the present, but they should have dropped this flabby extension of the running time all together to focus on the main story. It's the usual tale of survival at sea against the odds, with a battle against an abnormally large whale making up the heart of the narrative. Unfortunately, Howard gets obsessed with CGI here and at times the film is nothing more than a series of shots of actors against a green screen interacting with CGI. Still, the human drama is quite engrossing, and the cast is surprisingly good; Hemsworth flexs his acting chops unshackled from THOR, while Cillian Murphy, Joseph Mawle, Tom Holland and Frank Dillane all get their moments to shine.

In 1850, writer Herman Melville arrives in Nantucket Island to interview Tom Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson) about the lost of the whaling ship Essex. Tom was a young man when he joined the ship. George Pollard is the inexperienced captain from an established family. Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) is the experienced first mate who is looked down on and driven to captain his own boat. Matthew Joy (Cillian Murphy) is Owen's mate. The ship travels beyond the regular hunted-out grounds and faces a truly dangerous whale.

Director Ron Howard delivers a visual experience combining an old oil painting and modern CGI. He adds in flares of closeups that is unique but not necessarily exciting. Some scenes remind me of an old 50s lifeboat movie. Some scenes are fully modern CGI. The action works well but it is simply missing the heart. It is missing the human emotion. It's the opposite of Melville's classic which is all about the human condition. The movie ends with the weakest of dilemma which nobody cares about. This should be all about an action survival movie. There are some beautiful looking but not that thrilling action scenes. The story could use a real villain and some more human conflicts.