'The Finest Hours' Has Some Thrills, but Is a Clichéd, Colorless Drama in General

For all its flaws, I really enjoyed the 2006 Coast Guard rescue movie The Guardian.  Thus, when I saw a trailer for The Finest Hours, I was intrigued.  Based on a true story, the movie tells how the small crew of Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG-36500, led by Boatswain's Mate First Class Bernard "Bernie" Webber (played by Chris Pine), attempts a daring rescue – deem by the nearby townspeople of Chatham, Massachusetts as a “suicide mission” – of the crew of SS Pendleton, which had been badly compromised by a fierce nor’easter (a macro-scale storm).

The Finest Hours is a better quality film than The Guardian.  Yet I enjoyed the latter much more.  I guess it’s because the former lacks fun elements, which the latter has.  And it’s really just a dry, colorless drama all throughout.

Still, it’s an okay movie, I guess.  It’s a decent “man vs. nature” yarn that has its moments.  But for something described by the trailers as “The Most Daring Rescue Mission in U.S. Coast Guard History”, I was expecting more.

The Finest Hours isn’t consistently interesting.  For a story as potentially powerful as this, the movie fails to both pack a wallop and be genuinely heartfelt.  It contains lengthy boring moments, and is dragged down by clichés.  And though it does have a satisfying amount of key thrills and good performances, they aren’t enough to make an absorbing, exciting movie.