j Disclaimer- anything would be sufficiently entertaining at 4 am, which is incidentally when i watched this.so. you meet Ishmael; you like Ishmael. he's wide-eyed and kinda naive (yet adorable), so you expect character development. it never comes. he seems to get more naive as time passes, somehow, and it's irritating. he also experiences two whole emotions, these being (1) vaguely apprehensive (2) mildly confused. he's cute at first; then he's just stupid. ahab is doing The Most and has a weird crush (?) on Ishmael. actually everybody has a huge crush on Ishmael, which is entirely valid but also kind of hilarious.Starbuck is actually really good (even though he's 12 times more subtle than everyone else, which kinda stands out). You feel for him. He made me cry and I'm not a crier. now im crying again.They occasionally show the very cute friendship between Ish, Queequeg, Dagoo (whom i love), and Tashtego but it's not developed much and is really only proven by a prolonged group cuddle session (which is not in itself a bad thing). speaking of, where's the We Are Married scene? just saying. pip is adorable and sweet and i love him.there is gratuitous cgi whale. meh.there are pacing issues. you're like, "okay we're on day 1 of the voyage" and then they're like No It's Been 13 Months Somehow. like, I understand that you have to skip Ishmael's whale anatomy lectures from the book but there's some ~critical~ stuff that they shouldn't have left out (like character development! and the sperm squeezing scene (squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! all morning long). and the queeshmael cuddle sesh. ooh, also the whale penis coat. what a nice book).this could have worked with more than two parts and somebody on standby to tell Hurt to chill. there's a lot of plots that are started and never finished satisfactorily (ex. Mrs Ahab's storyline). But maybe i'm just a purist. idk. it was a decent reason not to sleep.

Samiam3 This low budget production of Moby Dick stars William hurt as William hurt and Ethan Hawke as Ethan hawke, treating Ahab and Starbuck as anything but literary iconography. There are some half decent early scenes showcasing Ahab as a husband before setting off on the ill fated Pequod. The ship looks like a kid brother vessel to the massive version in John Huston's film with thirteen sails. Ahab wins over his crew promising a Spanish gold piece to whoever raises him Moby Dick. He plays this scene with an ill advised sense of good humour before leading his men in a tacky chant of "moby dick" as if they were Atlanta Braves fans doing the chop. As for a Moby Dick himself, I almost don't even remember him being in the movie. There are no memorable shots or screen appearances of the great White Whale. The movie even sidesteps the iconic sequence where Ahab leaps on the whale's back and takes harpoon to him. It is entirely possible that this was written out to avoid the expense of such a shot. This Moby Dick goes down with the Pequod.

turnerwinkel This is an unsuccessful effort with fine actors and beautiful views of the sea and sailing vessels. It is by far the most disappointing performance I have seen by William Hurt, an actor who has given us many fine performances. I suppose it is too much to hope that there will ever be a film that actually spends time on the essential things in the novel, since they are not that cinematic in nature. The most effective part of the film is the representation of Nantucket, replete with a scene from a church service. The ship's masthead on the pulpit is quite striking and authentic. Otherwise, this film struggles to take a new approach to an old subject, but the result is sometimes ludicrous. There are several instances of modern-day idioms which make one cringe, given the context of nineteenth-century speech (e.g. "I'm just messin' with you"). The crew members are shown gleefully singing sea shanties as if this is the real reason they have gone to sea, the camera zooms in on their faces so the audience will see how awestruck they are at the sight of a whale, and the computer-generated image of Moby Dick is just plain laugh-out-loud ridiculous. The crew shouting "Moby Dick, Moby Dick, . . ." sounds like something from a football pep rally. (You almost expect them to spell it out next "M-O-B-Y-D-I-C-K"). Ishmael's narration of the story is minimal, so much so that it seems almost out of place. The totally invented part about the child lost at sea and miraculously found is never explained or rationalized. How did he suddenly become separated and how could Ishmael possibly have known where to look? The film begins with a soon-to-be neurotic and obsessed Captain Ahab having dinner peacefully at home with his wife and child. The ship sets out from Nantucket for some reason. (In the book it is New Bedford. What on earth did this change hope to accomplish?) In short, this movie is part action film, part cartoon.

ppachura OK, I saw this on cable and only recorded the 2nd half. Considering the other reviewers' bashing of the 1st half, I should be thankful. I really liked Hurt's performance. I had a feeling that Ahab was vulnerable. Maybe that is not historically accurate, because ship's captains are often portrayed as being in absolute control. However, if you are leading your crew to certain doom and neglecting the easy money, then you are likely to have an insurrection. The CGI was fine, no complaints. Its just hard to capture the enormity of the whale, and how terrifying it must be in a small boat with an unpredictable giant toying with you. Its a giant you can only catch a glimpse of in real life, so how do you portray that on a screen ? I just with the there had been a slower ending. After that powerful conclusion, it should have drawn out the scene of Ishmael floating in a vast empty sea to let the audience digest the powerful and terrible tragedy that has just occurred. The sad singing at the end could have really set the tone, but instead they just rolled the credits. If only I could re-edit this film, this could be the one that is required viewing for all English students after reading the book.