The Finest Hours (2016)

The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952.

Director:

Craig Gillespie

Writers:

Scott Silver (screenplay), Paul Tamasy (screenplay)

Stars:

Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chris Pine	...	Bernie Webber
Casey Affleck	...	Ray Sybert
Ben Foster	...	Richard Livesey
Eric Bana	...	Daniel Cluff
Holliday Grainger	...	Miriam Webber
John Ortiz	...	Wallace Quirey
Kyle Gallner	...	Andy Fitzgerald
John Magaro	...	Ervin Maske
Graham McTavish	...	Frank Fauteux
Michael Raymond-James	...	D.A. Brown
Beau Knapp	...	Mel Gouthro
Josh Stewart	...	Tchuda Southerland
Abraham Benrubi	...	George 'Tiny' Myers
Keiynan Lonsdale	...	Eldon Hanan
Rachel Brosnahan	...	Bea Hansen

Storyline

In February of 1952, one of the worst storms to ever hit the East Coast struck New England, damaging an oil tanker off the coast of Cape Cod and literally ripping it in half. On a small lifeboat faced with frigid temperatures and 70-foot high waves, four members of the Coast Guard set out to rescue more than 30 stranded sailors trapped aboard the rapidly-sinking vessel.

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Plot Keywords:

1950s | oil tanker | coast guard | sinking ship | survival | 

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Taglines:

32 survivors, room for 12.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of peril

Did You Know?

Trivia

As of 2017 this the 9th out of 10 Disney releases to receive the PG-13 rating by the MPAA

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Goofs

The SS Pendleton was powered by a steam turbine through a reduction gear to the propeller shaft. She would not have had "Engine Air Intakes". The concerns should have been to keep the rising waters in the engine room from reaching the boilers, not the non existent "Air Intakes"

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Quotes

Richard Livesey: Maybe we take these guys in and come back out.
Bernie Webber: We can't leave 'em out here alone. That boat won't last. We all live, or we all die.

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Connections

Featured in Half in the Bag: 2016 Movie Catch-up (2016)

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Soundtracks

I'll Get You Bye And Bye
Written and Performed by Pete Peterson
Courtesy of Tuff City Records
By arrangement with Ocean Park Music Group

User Reviews

Edge of your seat action

The FINEST HOURS is a rip-roaring, edge of your seat action thriller that will keep you guessing all the way to the end.

There....that should get me on the poster.

That said, I will have to admit that I had low to middling expectations going into this film and it exceeded my expectation in almost every way.

Starting with the Cast. Chris Pine (good ol' Cap't Kirk) stars as Bernie Webber a mid-level Coast Guard officer who is flung into the forefront when an oil barge splits in half in very rough sees during a storm. Pine presents Webber not as a square-jawed hero, but a real person with doubts and insecurities but a strict code of ethics and when his Capt. (the always capable Eric Bana) sends him out for what could be a suicide mission, he goes out.

While Pine holds down half of this movie, Casey Affleck holds down the other half as the leader of the group of survivors on the oil tanker. Normally, I am not a big fan of Affleck's work, but in this movie, I sure am. He is a man of few words and tells much with his expression. If there is a "squared jawed hero" in this movie, it is Affleck.

These two are supported by a veritable who's who of "that guy" actors. Ben Foster, John Ortiz, Michael Raymond James and good ol' Abraham Benrubi are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, of wonderful character actors filling the roles of other Coast Guard members and crewmen of the doomed ship.

Only Holliday Grainger as Pine's strong-willed fiancé fails for me, but I blame a weak written character more than her acting for that one.

But, make no mistake, it is the action that makes this movie exciting. From the opening where the oil ship splits in half through the attempt to get out to the ocean to find the doomed ship to the actual rescue itself, I was on pins and needles, literally vaulting myself up out of my seat to get over a wave at one point. Director Craig Gillespie, not known as an action director, does a nice job of leading us through these scenes, I am anxious to see what he takes on next. I hope it is another action flick.

Is it a great film? No. The opening (after the tanker accident) drags and the movie bounces around in tone trying to find out what kind of movie it wants to be, but once Pine and company goes out to sea to rescue, the movie zips along just fine.

7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis)

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 January 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Finest Hours

Filming Locations:

Quincy, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,288,932, 31 January 2016

Gross USA:

$27,569,558

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$52,099,090

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Whitaker Entertainment I, Whitaker Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1