This film is based on
Nathaniel Philbrick’s 2000 non-fiction book. The setting of is the winter of 1820. The Essex is a New England whaling ship
heading out to fill the hull with whale oil. They run into a storm and Captain Pollard disagrees with
Owen Chase on how to handle the ship and the sails. Even though Pollard is inexperienced, there is no choice but
to do what he says even though it’s wrong and causes them to nearly sink the
ship. The crew sights their first
whale, a bull sperm whale and the kill is a success. Three months pass and they have no further sightings of
whales. Pollard decides to sail
past Cape Horn to the Pacific. In
Atacames, Ecuador they learn from a Spanish captain that a massive white whale
destroyed his ship. In 1850,
author Herman Melville came to visit Thomas Nickerson as the last survivor of
the Essex. His interview was partly
the basis for the book Moby Dick.
I could not help it
but I felt more sympathy for the whales than the whalers. I also hated the scenes of the
harpooning. The white whale had
many reasons to seek vengeance on the ship and the men. 3* (This movie is OK)
122
min, Action directed by Ron Howard with Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy,
Brendan Gleeson, Benjamin Walker, Ben Whishaw, Michelle Fairley, Tom Holland,
Paul Anderson, Frank Dillane, Joseph Mawle, Edward Ashley, Sam Keeley, Osy
Ikhile, Gary Beadle, Jamie Sives.
Note: Imdb 6.9 out of 10, 43% critic 54%
audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2*, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 1550 reviews.
Special
Note: Filmed in Lanzarote and La
Gomera, Canary Islands, Spain; Leavensden Studios, Leavesden, Hertfordshire,
England, UK. Hemsworth played Thor
and Holland played Spider-Man.
Owen Chase and his family relocated to New Bedford, MA and he was the
captain of whalers for over 20 years.
He became wealthy enough to have his own whaling ship, the Charles
Carroll.
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