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Just finished watching the latest Moby Dick adaptation. I haven't read the novel (although I have a nice copy waiting to be read) so maybe I would have enjoyed the mini-series more if I had. As it was, I found the pacing very uneven and having read Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America fairly recently, some of the elements of life on a whaling ship struck me as dubious. I also saw a review which said the whale would have been more frightening if they hadn't used CGI to show the whole creature. I'm inclined to agree.
I did like some of the casting. Gillan Anderson as Ahab's wife in Part 1 was excellent as the loving, pious, dutiful but deeply concerned wife. And Ethan Hawke as Starbuck, the moral and conscientious first mate, was really, really good. I was also amused to see Billy Boyd as Elijah the singing prophet in Part 1. His face was filthy but I thought, I know that voice!
However the two most important roles, Ahab and Ishmael ... they just didn't work for me. Charlie Cox as Ishmael seemed to have only one expression, that of wide-eyed, pouty-lipped innocence. This expression (and his floppy, shiny hair) did not change over the two years, minimum, of the film. As for William Hurt as Ahab, initially he seemed like a stubborn but intelligent man but once they set sail he was clearly a lunatic. Okay, fine. But I could not believe that this man was charismatic and/or terrifying enough to convince a bunch of hard-headed sailors to run off after a single whale. I kept waiting for someone to quietly bash him over the head and toss him overboard one night so Starbuck could be captain. *sigh* They would have been a lot better off.
By the end, Ahab had broken so many of the rules for a whaling trip that it was a wonder the men didn't mutiny outright and Hurt just didn't persuade me that Ahab's continued leadership was plausible.
And none of them were dirty enough. And they all had shiny, clean hair. Hah.
Maybe I'll finally get to reading Moby Dick now. We also have a book called Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund and Mum says it's fantastic but I wanted to read Moby Dick first.
P.S. I did not know that Starbucks was named after Starbuck!
I did like some of the casting. Gillan Anderson as Ahab's wife in Part 1 was excellent as the loving, pious, dutiful but deeply concerned wife. And Ethan Hawke as Starbuck, the moral and conscientious first mate, was really, really good. I was also amused to see Billy Boyd as Elijah the singing prophet in Part 1. His face was filthy but I thought, I know that voice!
However the two most important roles, Ahab and Ishmael ... they just didn't work for me. Charlie Cox as Ishmael seemed to have only one expression, that of wide-eyed, pouty-lipped innocence. This expression (and his floppy, shiny hair) did not change over the two years, minimum, of the film. As for William Hurt as Ahab, initially he seemed like a stubborn but intelligent man but once they set sail he was clearly a lunatic. Okay, fine. But I could not believe that this man was charismatic and/or terrifying enough to convince a bunch of hard-headed sailors to run off after a single whale. I kept waiting for someone to quietly bash him over the head and toss him overboard one night so Starbuck could be captain. *sigh* They would have been a lot better off.
By the end, Ahab had broken so many of the rules for a whaling trip that it was a wonder the men didn't mutiny outright and Hurt just didn't persuade me that Ahab's continued leadership was plausible.
And none of them were dirty enough. And they all had shiny, clean hair. Hah.
Maybe I'll finally get to reading Moby Dick now. We also have a book called Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund and Mum says it's fantastic but I wanted to read Moby Dick first.
P.S. I did not know that Starbucks was named after Starbuck!
