nathaniel philbrick in the heart of the sea review

Unfortunately, the screenplay was lost at sea. Instead, In the Heart of the Sea, adapted from Nathaniel Philbrick’s nonfiction bestseller, digs into the real story of the Essex, a Nantucket whaling ship destroyed by a humungous white sperm.

'In the Heart of the Sea' is a technical marvel, demonstrating that Howard is still a master of making movies look and sound stunning. We respect that sort of discipline and devotion, but it would have been better showcased had the screenplay focused more on making these characters likable or relatable. Much has been made of Hemsworth’s physical transformation for this role: the actor best-known to audiences as the muscular, hammer-swinging superhero Thor lost a substantial amount of weight and muscle mass. That speaks volumes about the story structure and writing. In this story of survival, the crew resorts to the unimaginable, but it has little emotional impact.

This particular story’s weakness, however, is the imbalance between the frightening elements of the crew’s adventure, and the execution of the conflict between Chase and Pollard. But as unlikely as it may seem, the scene is not fiction but taken from Nathaniel Philbrick’s non-fiction account of the sinking of the whaleship Essex on November 20, 1819.

In this case, the bully is an obscenely large whale. We all relate to stories of survival, especially when that story involves a bully. This sounds like it should be exciting - and in dribs and drabs, it is. The two men detest each other but will be spending at least the next year together at sea, harvesting whales for oil. Check Out Chris Hemsworth's Dramatic Weight Loss

Nathaniel philbrick in the heart of the sea review