The Finest Hours Review
RYAN: Usually movies this time of year aren’t very good, but this movie is phenomenal. It’s beautifully done; a great way to honor true heroes in the coast guard. Against all odds, this small band accomplished something miraculous. It’s so well balanced with good pace, casting, effects. It all comes together nicely.
CHUCK: It helps that it’s source material is an incredible, true story, that at the end of the film, states it still holds a record for the coast guard. It reminds us that the coast guard is an incredibly important and brave park of our military.
RYAN: It’s such a great blockbuster. I felt in parts like I could be drowning and at other times felt like when you’re on a roller coaster and you drop, and your stomach goes into your throat. I don’t like roller coasters but this is a thrill ride.
CHUCK: (laughs) Almost like a 3D simulator.
RYAN: Exactly and the 3D was very good.
CHUCK: Yes in moments it was very good and the actions sequences are very effective.
RYAN: The girl in this movie – Holliday Grainger – is my newest obsession. She has a face! She’s so emotive and grounded. She looks like the love child of Shirley Temple and Betty Boop.
CHUCK: She controls her presence. She’s a force on the screen.
RYAN: I could have paused her at any moment in this film and been as entertained just staring at her still image. Mesmerizing.
CHUCK: She really lends to the authenticity of the time period. She fits in so healthy and American, although she’s English – great Amer’accent. She was once of the wicked stepsisters in Cinderella.
RYAN: I’m so glad you caught that. I didn’t realize. I’m glad to know her name now. Chris Pine and Casey Affleck are kind of counterparts and they are…
CHUCK: …extraordinary. I think they both did great work.
RYAN: So good, both in very inspirational roles.
CHUCK: Chris kind of played against type. He was an underdog, verging on wallflower. Casey was understated and powerful.
RYAN: He had a quiet confidence. Some people are calm in crisis and he played someone who was. There’s also Eric Bana and Ben Foster.
CHUCK: It feels like a traditional hero movie from the ’50s. It takes its time.
RYAN: I have to mention Titanic, insomuch as the fact that since it’s the iconic, definitive water movie, remembering it heightens the stakes for this film as well.
CHUCK: It all works – there’s a great innocence to it.
RYAN: Disney is still progressive in this story, even while making a period film. I loved it. It’s a true story that still manages to have a storybook quality to it.
