Gire: Heart-challenged 'Sea' a blubbering survival tale

The first shortcoming in Ron Howard's Moby-Dick-inspired maritime survival adventure "In the Heart of the Sea" is that we observe the great white whale way too early for it to become a frightening monster of the deep, as the story clearly intends it to be.

We see many shots of the whale, including a "whale-cam" strapped on the mammal's side that enables us to view what it looks like to rocket through the ocean from a barnacle's point of view.

The second shortcoming in Howard's nautical tale involves its flat, washed-out 3-D cinematography, easily the least-attractive three-dimensional imagery I've witnessed in a major movie.

The third shortcoming in "Heart of the Sea" stems from its lack of heart. It has no thrills. No sense of real danger. No sense of loss at the deaths of the crewmen. It's as if Howard thought the sight of CGI whales leaping into the air would be sufficiently dramatic to carry the story.

This tale of how a big whale destroys a whaling vessel and kills most of its men is told by an old man, Tom Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson), who survived the ordeal as a teenager (Tom Holland).

"In the Heart of the Sea" opens in 1850 when novelist Herman Melville (007's Q, Ben Whishaw) tracks down a clearly disturbed Nickerson, the last survivor of the doomed expedition.

The author suspects the official version of what happened to New England's whaling ship Essex has been compromised. He demands Tom tell the truth, so that he will be inspired to write his epic book "Moby-Dick."

Tormented by the truth he has never told anyone, Nickerson whisks us back to 1820 when he joins the Essex crew, comprised of the uppity and inexperienced Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker), seasoned veteran first mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth), loyal second mate Matthew Joy (Cillian Murphy) and other more expendable members.

Insecure Pollard doesn't know how to captain the ship, but his rich and influential father demands he helm the Essex and bring back 2,000 barrels of whale oil or risk tarnishing the family name.

Chase had been promised the captain's chair, but he lacks the social stature for the position. He wants to quit, but he takes the mate's job to support his pregnant wife, whom he must leave for two years.

Off they go to meet their destiny with a giant, vengeful whale that, like the great white shark in "Jaws," knows the value of revenge, and toys with the shipwrecked survivors in their tiny boats before deciding to take them out.

Melville's novel became famous for its meditation on man's and whales' capacities for revenge and obsession.

Howard's suspense-challenged movie - adapted from Nathaniel Philbrick's book "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whale Ship Essex" - meditates on little more than snotty rich men preying on the working classes.

Oops. I almost forgot the fourth shortcoming of "Heart of the Sea" - its trailer, a thoughtlessly constructed promo that subtlety telegraphs the story's big twist.

At least it did for me.

So, call this a torpid, disappointing work from an Oscar-winning director, sabotaged by the Warner Bros. marketing department.

“In the Heart of the Sea”

★ ★

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw, Cillian Murphy

Directed by: Ron Howard

Other: A Warner Bros. release. Rated PG-13 for violence. 121 minutes