We are in the doldrums of the movie season. This is time when movies in which movie studios have very little faith in are released to crickets from the movie going audience. In the past two weeks, “The Boy,” a movie about a potentially possessed doll, “The Fifth Wave,” teen dystopia 101 and “50 Shades Blacker,” the latest parody from one-half of the Wayans Brothers were released.
“Kung Fu Panda 3” was also released, which will make a ton of money due to the sheer fact that parents want to leave the home for a few hours without paying for a babysitter.
But, the biggest live action movie of the weekend was a Disney film, about the most daring Coast Guard rescue mission of all time, or at least that’s what the trailers continually reminded me.“The Finest Hours” is two straight hours dried aged cheese from its baffling generic name to its awful Bahston Ahcent, yet I had a fantastic time eating it all up.
So the question is why this generic film dumped in the worst month for film worked so well for me? The answer is Casey Affleck. For years, Casey Affleck was known as the less famous character actor brother of Ben Affleck. Sure, he has had his flirtations with lead roles or supporting roles in big movies. But, this film showed without a doubt that the younger Affleck has all the makings to be a star.
In “The Finest Hours,” Affleck plays a seaman on the SS Pendleton, an oil tanker which splits into two during a terrible storm in 1952. Affleck is the only one on the ship who knows the ship well enough and keep calm long enough, while holding a long brooding gaze, to be just what the crew of the SS Pendleton needed to survive this storm.
Affleck’s charisma carries the film from being nothing to something. That is why the film works best when it is aboard with the men on the SS Pendleton.
The rest of the movie – unfortunately, roughly two-thirds of the movie – is following some limp plot about Chris Pine as a coast guard recently engaged to a woman who does nothing more than worry about whether or not her man will return home.
It’s interesting to see Pine in relationship to Affleck. Pine has all the qualities to be a star, and Hollywood has tried to convert him despite the fact that Pine has not always seemed 100 percent willing to be an A-Lister.
That is why he does weird choices like playing a coked-out millionaire in “Stretch” and put on a ludicrous Boston accent that must have been intentional (He must have repeated “We need to get ovah the bah” at least a hundred times). Affleck, on the other hand, has the presence of James Dean and he mumbles just as much as he does. He feels like an actor from a different time.
Maybe if he had come along during the '50s when naturalism in acting was coming in vogue, he could’ve been a star. Instead he is playing second fiddle to his more famous brother and Chris Pine.
The reason I became so interested in the career trajectories of these two actors is because “The Finest Hours” barely counts as a real movie. This is the type of film you expect to see when somebody is spoofing these types of films about heroism and valor. You must latch on to something interesting to talk about.
That said as entertainment, the sea scenes and the tension on the SS Pendleton was palpable. But, there is something exciting about seeing a small boat getting through a big wave. Maybe it is just human nature.
It is hard to find something interesting happening at the theaters during January. This is the time when Oscar movies are making rounds or people are just too cold to make the trip out to the local theater.
“The Finest Hours” is the best example of this. But, if you absolutely had to see something that did not involve pandas and cultural appropriation, then there are much worse things than “The Finest Hours”. Plus, you get to see a smoldering Casey Affleck and a wet, cold Chris Pine. Whatever floats your boat right?
