THERE ONCE WAS A GUY FROM NANTUCKET...

I just watched In the Heart of the Sea, the latest Ron Howard film, based loosely on the sinking of the whale ship Essex and the writing of Moby Dick. Out of curiosity I read the reviews of the film and all the reasons critics said it bombed. And, I think they were all wrong. They had all kinds of intellectual theories as to what made this film a loser, but they failed to mention the main ones. First Chris Hemsworth, while handsome and virile, is a mumbler. I could barely understand most of what he said. Benjamin Walker as the captain wasn't much more compelling. The tertiary star, Cilian Murphy, was the most talented actor and most ill-used. But the biggest problem with this film, and what made it tiring to watch was that no scene was more than five seconds. This is as exhausting as a book with only short sentences. I have always felt that Ron Howard was an overrated hack, and this film kind of proves it. Of course I have to admit that I am not the best audience for this story as I thoroughly enjoyed watching whale hunters being battered and drowned by the innocent creature they sought to kill.