Moby Dick (2010)

Disturbing yet enthralling

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Fine television rendition about Herman Neville novel with enjoyable interpretations from all-star-cast . In this extremely loose adaptation of Melville's classic novel, Ahab is revealed initially not as a bitter and revengeful madman . This oceans saga features the sole survivor of a lost whaling ship who relates the tale of a white whale and the captain Ahab's obsession with desires for vendetta upon the greatest animal . It starts in New Bedford , Massachussets, where arrives a novice named Ishmael (Charlie Cox) who signs aboard the whaling ship Pequod and befriends a Polynesian native , harpooner Queequeg (Raoul Trujillo). He meets Elijah (Billy Boyd) , Stubb (Eddie Marsan) , Starbuck (Ethan Hawke) and captain Ahab (Gregory Peck) who has a self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale , Moby Dick . Ahab consecrates his life to hunt it full of hating and vengeance . Soon enough Ishmael aware about the great white whale who claimed the captain's leg and Ahab's determination to seek avenge on the beast that crippled and scarred him , no matter what the cost to himself , his crew or ship .Yet another take on of Melville's classic battle of wills story . The picture is a fine television adaptation of the famous novel well scripted/adapted and ably realized . Moby Dick is an attractive tale of life on the high seas, and in particular on board a whale schooner named 'Pequod' . This impressive adaptation based on Herman Melville's 1851 classic novel is vividly brought to screen . The interactions between Ahab, Michigan & Stubb is reminiscent of captain Vere, Billy Budd & Master-at-arms John Claggart, the main characters of Billy Budd, another novel written by Moby-Dick's author, Herman Melville , and it results to be one of the most thrilling and moving see sagas ever written . Suspense and tension of the ocean is completely captured , including enduring images as the storm with the 'fire of Saint Telmo' . Climatic final battle is an overwhelming piece of cinema as you are likely to watch . Nigel Williams wrote a screenplay that was partially faith to the novel and filmmaker Mike Binder stamping this movie with epic images and thought-provoking dialogs . Enjoyable recounting , including quite a few moments that click make this top-of-the-range movie more than watchable . The FX experts created a great whale made by means of ordinary computer generator . Top-notch main and secondary cast realize extraordinary performances . William Hurt is nice as well as Ethan Hawke and Charlie Cox . Phenomenal support cast as Eddie Marsan as Stubb , Gillian Anderson as Elizabeth , Billy Boyd as Elijah , Raoul Trujillo as Queequeg and Stephen McHattie as Rachel Captain . Cameraman Richard Greatrex's appropriate color cinematography splendidly conveys the bleaker qualities of the chase . Exciting and thrilling musical score by Richard Mitchell. The motion picture was professionally directed by Mike Binder , though with no originality . He's a nice director working usually for television as ¨Moby Dick¨, ¨Sea wolf¨ ,¨Lorna Doone¨ and occasionally for cinema as ¨A good woman¨, ¨To kill a king¨ and o ¨Butterfly on a wheel¨ his best movie. Other renditions about this famous novel are the followings : 1930 rendition by Lloyd Bacon with John Barrymore, this is the first production of "Moby Dick" to have a leading female character , Joan Blondell . Moby Dick (1959) by John Huston , an over-the-top rendition of Herman Melville's high seas saga with a sensational Gregory Peck as unforgettable captain Ahab . It's remade in 1998 TV series by Franc Roddan with Patrick Stewart ,Henry Thomas , Bill Hunter and Gregory Peck who takes on the character of Jonah-and-the-whale sermonizing Father Mapple who in classic adaptation was vividly played by Orson Welles . Furthermore , recent lousy rendition full of computer generator FX starred by Barry Bostwick and Renee O'Connor .

This lost me with Queequeg. Please, a Mexican with bad Maori imitation tattoos and an incomprehensible accent playing a Tongan/Fijian? About as special as Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's. And that pretty much sums up this remake.Yes, the names of the characters are the same. There are even some recognisable plot elements, like that stuff about the whale. And I don't even blame the screenwriters for omitting the 100-odd chapters of description about various forms of blubber. But please, hire a Tongan next time, I'm sure there are a few in California. Hey, get a Samoan if you are really stuck. But at least get the hemisphere right, if nothing else.

Hollywood has been making Moby Dick movies for almost 100 years. Why, after all this time, has nobody gotten it right? John Huston tried, and did the best of anyone. Peck was the right man for the job and the script was pretty solid. Enough cannot be said about Orson Welles' turn as Father Mapple. But it had its flaws. Richard Basehart was completely miscast as Ishmael.In this version, there was a misfired attempt to to give Ahab a back story, complete with a wife and child and a kind disposition. It completely destroyed the core of the character. Ahab was reclusive, mean and bitter. We only should hear murmurings about him initially, not see him giving advice to his son at the dinner table or kissing his lovely wife as they relax in the parlor.And what was that ridiculous nonsense about Ishmael saving Pip from his abusive owner at the beginning? Was it simply a device to get him to say the opening "Call me Ishmael" line? When the makers of these films try to give progressive qualities to the heroes... well, it simply comes off as forced. Melville does a wonderful job of it already. His interactions with Queequeg, especially in the beginning, are tremendously touching. This was almost completely ignored in this version, replaced by Ishmael acting as another clichéd White Savior.Also, quite inexplicably, the location of the docked Pequod was changed from New Bedford to Nantucket. What was the point of that?, I kept asking myself.The cast all seems happy to be there. Gillian Anderson does her best to continue to act like she's British. Hurt, as Ahab, is fairly impotent. Ethan Hawke's hastily grown mustache did the bulk of the heavy lifting as Starbuck. The rest came straight from Central Casting.What does this have going for it? Weeeell. . . Charlie Cox was OK, if a little stiff. Slightly better at it than Henry Thomas, I should say.Watch this if you love Moby Dick, but don't expect too much. Certainly don't watch this one if you're trying to write an essay for your high school English class. Your teacher will know right away you were too lazy to read the book.

After non-stop disappointment at the movies this Summer, the latest being Cowboys & Aliens for so many reasons, this "freebie" on Encore came as a very pleasant surprise. William Hurt as Ahab was rock solid and while this may sound like heresy, was more fully rounded and interesting than Gregory Peck, whose monolithic performance embarrassed him in later years, and he didn't mind saying so in numerous interviews. (Still he had that great baritone voice) The supporting cast was fine (Ethan Hawk a bit too contemporary) and the production values commendable given the constraints of the budget. Liberties were taken from the classic novel but far from a dumbing down. And the finale, a virtual battle with the white leviathon was surprisingly effective if not all together a solid action set-piece....... far more so than anything in the aforementioned Cowboys and Aliens. I would have to say its worth checking out for most tastes and nothing too objectionable for kids over seven if they can deal with the hunting of whales.