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  • davidahallnum5
    • Aug 11, 2022
    • 8 min read

In the Heart of the Sea 3D Blu-ray Review

Updated: Apr 8, 2023

In the Heart of the Sea is a 2015 historical docudrama about the whale attack and sinking of the whale ship Essex back in 1820 that would later inspire Herman Melville to write his masterpiece Moby Dick. The movie opens up in 1850 with Herman coming over to the house of former crew mate Thomas Nickerson, the last remaining survivor of the the Essex, to ask for his experience of the Essex's expedition and tragedy of the the whale ship sinking and the crew mates harrowing, and disturbing, fight for survival afterwards. From here, this frame story takes us through these disastrous events and the intense survival situation the crew was thrust into, due to the actions of a ginormous whale that Captain Owen Chase would swear revenge on.

Many people seem to have mixed reviews on this movie. Currently on Rotten Tomatoes, the critics' score is at 42% and the audience approval rating is at 53%. However, in spite of its flaws, I personally ended up liking In the Heart of the Sea. Is it a perfect film? No. But I feel that it does a lot more things right than people give it credit for. I'll first address some of the issues I had with the film as I believe that's where most people would agree with me the most. Then I'll move onto why I think the film is actually pretty good.

I believe where Heart of the Sea loses people is in the first hour of the film. The opening when Herman Melville comes to Thomas's house is actually is actually pretty promising: starting us off not too dark in tone, but interesting and intriguing enough to draw us in. Once we enter the frame story, though, this is where things start to get a little clunky. First off, the dialogue is not really all that memorable, nor is it always engaging. While it does seem somewhat true to the times in terms of style, it becomes hard to really stay all that interested, and even keep up, when the talking scenes goes on for long periods of time. Then we move onto the routine whaling mission. I'll give the film credit where it's due as it uses the seemingly average tone here to contrast against the intense survival mission later. But for most of the film's first half, that "average" tone is somewhat dull and not quite all that entertaining. There's nothing that has an enormous barring on the plot and not much for us to get invested in for most of the scenes on the ship that don't involve action or whales. There are interactions between characters on the ship that had potential to grab our attention if they were well written (as the dialogue did in the film Master and Commander, which just like this movie, mostly takes place at sea). But as mentioned above, there's nothing about the dialogue for most of this segment of the film beyond the style that gives us much reason to stay invested in what's going on. The film's first hour's saving graces are the opening and anywhere there was action going on. The stylized whaling scenes were intense and engaging, and the reason those worked is what I'll touch on in just a minute. But tone wise, the film's average tone in the first to beginning second act remains on the verge of uninteresting. And I think that's what throws most people off about this movie.

But if think that's all there is to the movie, I'm here to tell you it only gets better from here. While Heart of the Sea may not be that great at telling (when the subject matter isn't that important), it excels when it comes to showing. A great example of this is the stylized look the film carries when it goes out to sea, with saturating greens and surreal camera shots. And that style really helps when it comes to the action, which there is luckily plenty of. As I mentioned earlier, the whaling and action scenes are one of the saving graces of the first half. But when the story enters its second act, those things start to pick up. However, the story itself is at its most captivating after the Essex gets attacked by the whale and sunk and the crew is forced to survive any way they can. From there, the plot remains ever involving. But, it's also there when the story becomes very harrowing and not for the faint of heart. I don't want to spoil the story for you, but the methods that the former crew use to keep themselves alive sometimes end up at the expense of the other survivors in some pretty gruesome ways. The film is PG-13 rated, so these acts aren't shown graphically. But the story itself still can be pretty gut-wrenching for most audiences. However, it's during the serious times such as these when the story is engaging and intense. And because of the slow pace and careful direction by Ron Howard, we feel eerily enough like we're right there with the castaways. When the story does finally get back to land and the normality of everyday life, we identify with the main characters' strange sense of relief and simultaneous dread because we saw the same things they saw and felt the horror they felt. And while we're happy to be let out of it, we also won't soon forget it either. Any movie that can do that, in my book, is a well-made film.

So as you can see, In the Heart of the Sea is not a perfect movie. But it becomes it's best when it turns into a harrowing survival tale. Although I can see where some people could dislike the movie, I personally feel like the high positives of the film's last hour overshadow most of the negatives of the first. The acting remains top-notch and the score is amazing throughout the movie. But in the last half when the subject matter becomes increasing serious, the story becomes more well-told and you feel just how dramatic and intense it can get. On top of that, the action is surreal and engaging. All of these elements together left me with a good impression of In the Heart of the Sea. If you find the movie dull and boring, that's perfectly fine. But personally, I found it to be a film that's does most of elements right, and receives very little credit for the elements it does great.


OVERALL FILM RATING: 4/5



3D has garnered a reputation for mostly being used on high budget action movies and animated kids flicks. And while there's nothing wrong with that in the least, I like to see 3D be used on a much more serious realistic film such as this as it proves that not only can 3D serve stories like this well, but if it's properly planned and executed, it can end up delivering a better experience than your average Marvel movie. And I'm happy to say that In the Heart of the Sea is virtually a perfect example of this.

The 3D in Heart of the Sea was post-converted rather than natively shot that way. But none the less, the depth throughout remains just as strong, if not stronger, than most natively shot movies. From beginning to end, there is never a moment that appears shallow or dull in 3D. Every scene goes back into the screen as much as it should. This luckily goes for the talking scenes or parts where there's not much going on, making them an extra dimension more interesting. But when the film goes out to sea, the 3D goes into high-gear. The Essex itself becomes big, immersive, and full of detail. The ocean looks as big and vast as it would look realistically. And the whales themselves feel larger than life in 3D. And almost every shot in the film seems purposely choreographed for 3D, too. The water looks mesmerizing, especially with the green tint I talked about earlier, and the ship's interesting layout is surreal with different levels and platforms, along with the many different objects in their own 3D space.

And during the action sequences, the 3D really makes the peril all that much more immersive. We get everything from water splashing up in your face to ropes going back into the screen and out of it to harpoons sticking of the screen to whales looking like they could come up and kill you. And shots underwater look all that much more surreal than they do in 2D with floating bubbles, spears, the strange looking ocean surface. They are even some moments that take place up high on the ship that look like you're high above the deck of the ship. If you have a fear of heights, you might get a little jolt of these parts too. I could go on and on about how fantastically the 3D is utilized here at sea. But to round it out, we get fire, debris, the inside of the whale, and plenty of other surrounding objects that make for an interesting watch in 3D.

Not every scene though is at sea. And while the talking scenes on land still have good amounts of depth, the 3D isn't utilized to the best of its ability. It doesn't have to be though. And there are still some interesting uses of depth in these scenes. On land, we still get good wide views of the town with plenty of detail, views looking through windows or doorways inside are still fun to watch, and the 3D composition allows for things to pop out of the screen from time to time, including a ship in a bottle. The 3D during these parts is on the slightly more subtle side of things, but it's still very good 3D.

The only real complaints about the 3D are that sometimes, the screen can get a bit dark during the scenes with grown Thomas and Herman as it takes place at night, and the action sequences can have things pop off the screen so far it becomes slightly wonky. But those are only small nitpicks. The overall 3D transfer is still absolutely amazing. This movie may not be on the same level as Hugo or Avatar because whereas those films are films where the 3D is a necessary component to experiencing them, Heart of the Sea is a good film in both formats but is better with 3D. But as far as 3D films go, this is still an incredible transfer with lots of depth and great 3D composition that is certainly worth seeing.


3D RATING: GREAT


Other recommended sites that review this movie's 3D (not all of these reviews match up with mine. But if you want a second opinion on the film's 3D, these are some sources I recommend checking out):




3D Blu-ray Bunker's Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq4mYx_1SU0



FINAL THOUGHTS:


In the Heart of the Sea, in my opinion, is a pretty underrated film. Sure, it's a bit clunky and lacking direction in the first half. But it more than makes up for that with the compelling drama in the second. But even if you don't agree with me there, we can all certainly agree that the 3D for this movie is especially underrated. I believe that's mostly due to the fact that few people have heard of the film itself, and even less people care about the 3D. But still. This is a very high-quality 3D presentation with depth galore, impressive 3D composition, and immersive 3D action. It's a shame more people don't know about it. If you're considering purchasing this movie on 3D Blu-ray, I say definitely go for it. And with a current price of about $12 on Amazon, you'll be getting plenty of bang for your buck. Will you like the movie itself? That's your call. But if you like great 3D flicks and already have most of the 3D essentials, this one is certainly worth considering. And if you are going to buy it, put it on the biggest screen you can with the best sound system you have. As much as I enjoyed my own experience of this film, it was so big, grand, and loud that I found myself wishing I saw it in IMAX 3D during it's initial release. I guess my own screen was fine too. But seriously, if you're going to watch In the Heart of the Sea, you'll want to get the most out of it.






DID YOU LIKE "IN THE HEART OF THE SEA" IN 3D

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