The Finest Hours

Keeping in the style of my blog to watch things you might miss is a film that so many missed, it hit Disney pretty hard at the box office and is The Finest Hours. Yes that one, I remember it too!

Released in January 2016, The Finest Hours starred Chris Pine, Casey Affleck and Ben Foster and told the true story about a small rescue boat going in search of an oil tanker during a blizzard in Cape Cod, 1952. These salt-of-the-earth heroics can often be entertaining but I was curious why this couldn't recreate the same success that The Perfect Storm managed to do. It generally had the right pieces but was this just an unwise investment when a smaller film could have worked?

Starting off with your stereotypical 1950s American romance, it's not long before a storm emerges and Casey Affleck's boys are in need of rescue. Chris Pine, Ben Foster and two other guys, the film chooses to place in the background, bravely step-up to the challenge and make their way into an impressive if somewhat over-the-top CGI rollercoaster of a storm. And despite the stilted opening 10-minutes, The Finest Hours becomes an entertaining, if ultimately forgettable, experience.

This is by no means something you should rush out to see but if you enjoy those rescue action flicks that see men risk their lives for the greater good, this isn't a bad film to catch on TV. Perhaps that's why it failed to score at the box office but the acting is good, the waves are high with a chilly atmosphere and the action is fun enough to make it worth passing the time with.