DVD OF THE WEEK

In The Heart Of The Sea (12) **

Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) visits emotionally crippled seaman Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson) at his home on Nantucket Island to discuss the ill-fated sailing of the whaling ship Essex in the winter of 1820.

The seadog has never recounted this horrific episode, not even to his wife (Michelle Fairley).

Eventually, Nickerson acquiesces. In flashback, he recalls how inexperienced captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) stood nervously at the helm of the Essex, at the behest of the owners, Messrs Mason (Donald Sumpter) and Fuller (Richard Bremmer).

However, the crew, including Matthew Joy (Cillian Murphy), looked to strapping First Mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) for their orders. One thousand leagues along the equator, the Essex encounters a monstrous creature of the deep, which rams the vessel and leaves the men stranded far from home.

In The Heart Of The Sea is a sprawling maritime adventure, which dramatises the real-life disaster that inspired Melville's classic Moby-Dick. Hemsworth buckles his swash as the hunky hero, who allows his thirst for revenge to cloud his judgement and endanger the men under him. Supporting performances, including an ineffectual Walker, are lost in the Sturm und Drang of the water-logged set pieces and a climactic bout of cannibalism.

The central battle for survival, punctuated by special effects-laden action sequences, should quicken our pulses and keep attentions afloat for more than two hours.

Unfortunately, Ron Howard's film springs a leak early on and gradually sinks without anchoring our affections to the characters as they confront the morality of their bloody trade.