The Finest Hours

Jays Rating:
Actors: /


Based on true events the drama-action-thriller, The Finest Hours, highlights the most daring rescue in Coast Guard history. The year is 1952 and off the coast of Cape Cod a major storm with seventy foot waves swallows the oil tanker SS Pendleton bound for Boston. The ship literally breaks in half and the Assistant Engineer Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck) and thirty-two sailors try heroically to survive. When Warrant Officer Daniel Cluff (Eric Bana) receives a call for help at the Coast Guard office in Chatham, Massachusetts, he plans a daring rescue mission for the stricken vessel. He sends Coast Guard Coxswain Bernie Webber (Chris Pine) and three men, Richard Livesey (Ben Foster), Ervin Maske (John Magaro), and Andy Fitzgerald (Kyle Gallner) out in a small wooden lifeboat to save the sailors. Everyone knew this was a death mission. Meanwhile, bad news travels quickly and people on land were learning about the rescue attempt. Bernie’s fiancée, Miriam (Holliday Grainger) begs Warrant Officer Cluff to order the 4 men back before they are killed in the storm. It’s hard to believe this is a true story because it’s so obvious that the men die trying to navigate a small wooden boat in a blinding storm and raging seas. While in their boat, I along with the whole audience was on the edge of my seat waiting for the boat to capsize or for the big tanker to sink. As compelling as this rescue story is, there are a few disappointments. The characters are one dimensional, but I guess the only thing they need to know is how to swim. The rescue was really intense and compelling but when the scene switched to land some of the tension was lost. (Who cares if Miriam runs her car into a snow bank.) This is the perfect role for Chris Pine and he and the rest of the cast make the movie believable. Well, this really is a true story and it’s hard to imagine that it actually happened. I enjoyed this thrilling film and I’m giving it a B rating.

This movie has been given a PG13 rating by the MPAA

Although I am blind, I can appreciate a good movie as well as sighted individuals. I rely more on a good story line than special effects.