Too much of everything

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Blistering performances.

That guy did not deserve to have a film celebrating him and the "challenge" Like the air drama Sully, great story but not enough material for a film but a documentary only.In this case the man was not endearing either. The directors or writers failed here. Not impressed. They ignored the real storyOh, and I like the star, but he was horribly miscast in this film. He is now either too old or terribly over acting to pull off a role like this.

A heart wants what it wants. It's the end of the 1960's, and this solid family man (Colin Firth) wants to take his Sunday hobby of sailing to the ultimate level, designing his own boat and travelling around the world in six months - alone, as part of the contest.Also starring, Rachel Weisz as the man's wife, David Thewlis, and, well, a whole lot of ocean. Based on a true story, by the way.The central part of "The Mercy" is watching Firth's character Donald Crowhurst defying dangers and both physical and psychological hardships of sailing the ocean, having to rely only on his hands, wits and hope that nothing critical breaks down because the contest won't allow making stops or having breaks during the world travelling tour.A worn-down man sulking on a boat in the middle of nowhere might seem like a boring idea for a feature-length movie, but somehow the authors have managed to get it right, so it turns out to be quite a gripping.What was essentially a exhausting and monotonous journey where the main activities were shovelling out the water and trying to keep the whole thing from drowning, is enriched by portraying the gradual mental eroding of Crowhurst.Colin Firth is known as versatile actor and you can bet your sweet bottom that he does a wonderful job at conveying the depression, loneliness, exhaustion and general distress of his character, so he is able to command our attention whenever he's on screen.And all that is his usual reserved and delicate way, living the character, not acting it.It's easily an awards worthy performance although at this time it's way too early to predict his chances of getting an Oscar nomination.The same goes, by the way, to Rachel Weisz who has created a a surprisingly soulful and charming supporting role from what surely must have been a mostly decorative one on paper.She does not have much screen time actually, but it gets compensated by a powerful speech in the end. A true Oscar moment, as they would say.Parallel to Crowhurst's journey, we see bits from the life of people who wait for his return, including the family - but also his promoter trying to earn him some money for the expensive trip that threatens to bankrupt the whole family.This turns out to be the movie's weakness which, while not quite ruining the dramatic impact of the whole thing, does not actually expand or strengthen the main story in a meaningful way.It's okay in short doses - if only for variety's sake - but its emotional "nutritive value" falls flat compared to what's happening on the sea.The director James Marsh's previous project, "The Theory of Everything", suffers from the same deficiency. It's pretty and watchable but he should have trimmed the final act.That's all I wanted to say about this one. "The Mercy" is pretty good but its shallower side holds it back a notch. I am happy to have seen it but it will not linger on memory for long. Although I did like the deeper message that with grandiose plans comes a danger of falling into prison of one's own ego.We have seen many instances of at least two similar-themed movies released in the same period of time. It also happens here, with "The Mercy" preceded by premiere of "Crowhurst" by almost five months, although the latter got a proper cinema release in the U.K. a few weeks later.

The Mercy: A tale of an ameteur sailor who took on an endeavour which was beyond him and resulted him in perpetuating a great hoax for months but ended with his disappearance and likely suicide. Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth) was determined to enter into and to complete the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race in 1968. But his experience was restricted to inland waterways. Undaunted he designs his own yacht for the competition.Borrowing money from local businessman Stanley Best (Ken Stott) and retaining Rodney Hallworth (David Thewlis) as a publicist his plans are set in motion. But delays and problems occur. He is pressured into setting off before his boat is ready by Best and Hallworth. Once at sea things start to fall apart as his yacht is unseaworthy and he makes little progress. But the grasping Best holds the titles to Crowhurst's business and house and he will lose everything if he abandons the race. Rachel Weisz plays Clare Crowhurst, the wife who is left to try and keep the family together while her sailor husband sails around the world. The pressures, financial and psychological also take a toll on her but she resolutely supports Donald.Crowhurst starts to lie about the distance he has travelled and this is made worse by Hallworth further embellishing the claims. As he gets caught in his his web of lies, Donald begins to despair and sinks into depression, eventually adrift in the horse latitudes amid the Sargasso Sea. He hallucinates, seeing his family and even hearing horses on deck.While the outcome of the film is known, director James Marsh and writer Scott burns keep the tension going as the tale unfolds and nothing seems to be inevitable. The rage and calm of sea is beautifully captured by cinematographer Eric Gautier and editors Jinx Godfrey & Joan Sobel. 8/10.

It's 1968. Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth, "Kingsman: The Golden Circle"; "Magic in the Moonlight"), an amateur sailor and entrepreneur based in Teignmouth, Devon, is inspired by listening to single-handed round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester and does a a crazy thing. He puts his business, his family's house and his own life on the line by entering the Sunday Times single-handed round-the-world yacht race. It's not even as if he has a boat built yet! Lending him the money, under onerous terms, are local businessman Mr Best (Ken Stott, "The Hobbit") and local newspaper editor Rodney Hallworth (David Thewlis, "Wonder Woman", "The Theory of Everything"). With the race deadline upon him, Crowhurst is pressed into sailing away from his beloved wife Clare (Rachel Weisz, "Denial", "The Lobster") and young family in a trimaran that is well below par. But what happens next is so ludicrous that it makes a mockery of whoever wrote this ridiculous work of fiction. Ah... but wait a minute... it's a true story!It is in fact such an astonishing story that this is a film that is easy to spoil in a review, a fact that seems to have passed many UK newspaper reviewers by (aarrrggghhh!!). So I will leave much comment to a "spoiler section" on http://bob-the-movie-man.com. The trailer is also best avoided: this is honestly a film worth seeing cold.What can I say that is spoiler-free then? Firth and Weisz make a well-matched couple, and the rest of the cast is peppered with well-known faces from British film and (particularly) TV: Andrew Buchan and Jonathan Bailey (from "Broadchurch"); Mark Gatiss ("Sherlock", "Out Kind of Traitor"); Adrian Schiller ("Victoria"; "Beauty and the Beast").The first part of the film is well executed and excellent value for older viewers. 60's Devon is warm, bucolic and nostalgic. In fact, the film beautifully creates the late 60's of my childhood, from the boxy hardwood furniture of the Crowhurst's house to the Meccano set opened at Christmas time. Once afloat though, the film is less successful at getting its sea-legs. The story is riveting, but quite a number of the scenes raise more questions than they answer. As stress takes hold it is perhaps not surprising that there are a few fantastical flights of movie fancy. But some specific elements in Scott Burns' script don't quite gel: a brass clock overboard is a case in point. What? Why?And it seems to be light on the fallout from the race: there is a weighty scene in the trailer between Best and Hallworth that (unless I dozed off!) I don't think appeared in the final cut, and I think was needed. All in all, I was left feeling mildly dissatisfied: a potentially good film by "Theory of Everything" director James Marsh that rather goes off the rails in the final stretch. This was a time where morality and honour were often rigidly adhered to - British "stiff upper lip" and all that - and seemed to carry a lot more weight than they do today. So some of the decisions in the film might mystify younger viewers. But for the packed older audience in my showing then it was a gripping, stressful, but far from flawless watch. I'd also like to take this opportunity to pay my respects to the film's composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who shockingly died last week at the ridiculously young age of 48. His strange and atmospheric music for films including "The Theory of Everything", "Sicario" and (particularly) "Arrival" set him on the path to be a film composing great of the future. Like James Horner, another awful and untimely loss to the film music industry.(For the full graphical review - and a spoiler section for those who have seen the film - please visit bob-the-movie-man.com. Thanks).