Ron Howard's whaling adventure film In the Heart of the Sea should have splashed down into theaters earlier this year. They already had Chris Hemsworth putting down his hammer to pick up a whaling harpoon and the film might have been a hit with leaner competition around it, but Warner Bros. decided it was a promising enough project to bump to this December right in the thick of awards season. It's a bold vote of confidence for the film which promises great special effects and a story grand enough to have inspired Herman Melville's classic, Moby Dick.
Hemsworth stars as real-life First Mate Owen Chase, who along with the crew of the whaling ship Essex fight to survive against an enraged sperm whale in 1820. The film co-stars Benjamin Walker, Brendan Gleeson, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw, and Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland. Here's the synopsis:
In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. “Heart of the Sea” reveals the encounter’s harrowing aftermath, as the ship’s surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down.
In the Heart of the Sea opens December 11th.
