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I'm going to go out on a limb and say Moby Dick doesn't lend itself to film and TV adaptations. The tale is dramatic, it's action-packed, it's visual and it's exciting, but there's an awful lot in the original text that you have to leave out in order to film it coherently. Melville's book is encyclopedic. It tells you a lot about whales and whaling; the motivations of the whalers, the camaraderie on board, the mechanics of capturingand dissecting the largest animal in the ocean and extracting theuseful stuff that keeps America burning. This adaptation (and probably ANY adaptation) cuts to the chase, omitting these complex descriptions of whaling life in favour of characters and action, the meat and potatoes of Hollywood filmmaking. In doing so, it loses something of the quality of the story. It also loses the narrator: on TV, Ishmael, a witty and endearing narrator, becomes a one-dimensional protagonist, totally overshadowed by Ahab.

This is Ahab's film. William Hurt dominates every scene he appears in, and he appears in most of them. I'm convinced he's pulling out all the stops, aiming for an Emmy. I'm not sure how else to explain the hammy overacting, the grizzly beard, the cheesy dialogue delivered in a carefully cultivated "old salt" accent (ie. "aargh!" "aye!"). Hurt thinks he's playing Hamlet, and he wants Ahab's descent into madness to be central to the story.

Ahab is typically dark, cursed, scarred, traumatised, intimidating and vengeful. Hurt's Ahab is just plain crazy. He jokes around with his men, delivers many of his most serious lines while grinning through his beard and squinting his eyes. On board the Pequod, he's like everybody's affectionate but slightly volatile Grandpa, not averse to a hug or a bit of laugh over a stein of grog. He says too much, and much of it is hard to understand, delivered in a sing-song cadence with emphasis in unusual places. Oscillating between booming vocal projection of Shakespearean proportions and just plain talking to himself, and introspective mumbling in which he appears to be talking to himself, Hurt seems to be performing for his own benefit rather than for an audience. This is an attempt to indicate Ahab's madness in a way nobody else has done before, but it alienates the audience as well as his fellow actors, and it's just not good acting. He's a piratey caricature whose attempts at pathos are unpersuasive. I prefer Gregory Peck's intense, brooding Ahab. A good Ahab should indicate more than he actually says, a dark exterior concealing untold depths of turmoil and mystery - like the sea! Argh!

Ethan Hawke is a solid Starbuck, and a very human foil to Hurt's gruff, squinty captain. He's emotional, penetrative, and seriously worried about the fate of the ship. More than anyone else he embodies the atmosphere of impending doom that plagues the voyage, and his sense of mortality is a visibly heavy burden. When Starbuck says that what he wants most from the journey is "to see Nantucket again", you believe him. He's a homesick sailor. At that point, everything's beginning to go awry and we'd all like to see the Pequod turn around and go home. Starbuck's finest hour comes at the very end - I won't give anything away, but it's profoundly moving. Hawke's performance salvaged something of an otherwise perfunctory adaptation.

Moby himself is, of course, CGI. In short, like so many massive movie monsters, he doesn't look real. It's not bad CGI, but it's difficult to convey the sublime weightiness of such a vast, living creature with special effects. Moreover, Moby is no ordinary animal - he's an icon, with a personality and a sense of mischief. At it's heart, the story of a whale cheating a whaler is almost comic, with the feel of a fable. I wonder if an animation might capture the spirit of the character (Moby is a character!) more than live action film with CGI. For the most part, they do a pretty decent job of Moby, except for a totally unnecessary scene at the very end which is embarrassingly rudimentary and looks like a scene from a video game.

In summary, as a production it could be worse, but it didn't add anything to my experience of the story. I couldn't help feeling some of the actors involved (Donald Sutherland, Gillian Anderson, William Hurt) were simply trying to add another period piece to their CV's. They fulfilled the brief, but their performances were not memorable. Honourable mentions go to Eddie Marsan, who was an excellent Stubbs, and Billy Boyd who makes an impressive cameo as deranged prophet Elijah. There were some saving graces, but I'm yet to see an adaptation of Moby Dick that captures the spirit of the book. As nautical tales go, Peter Weir's Master and Commander gives a more vivid impression of life at sea.

This canonical story with the feel of a great myth is told and retold, so perhaps there is yet hope for a cinematic adaptation that does the book justice. No doubt someone will take another stab at Moby Dick in the not-too-distant future; pun absolutely intended.

I just finished watching this and I don't have time to write an extensive review, but I will say a couple of things about this production.

Many, many liberties were taken with the plot. In fact the opening scene may blow you right out of the water. And Caption Ahab has apparently been swayed by New Age sharing and caring! But the essence of Melville's work may be considered intact if you take the view that he was a Transcendentalist, along with Whitman and others of that era.

If you hold to that interpretation of this production you may enjoy it on that level (see Jed Mckenna's "Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment" for more on that). In fact if you hold to the conventional interpretation- that of a psycho-social critique of man's hubris against Nature, you will also probably be satisfied at the thematic level.

A few fine scenes but Ahab's wild and fantastic speeches are missing - which to me are the greatest of joys.

The treatment of the finale is decent.

Good luck!

Fine television rendition in two episodes about Herman Neville's 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 oceanic 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 newcomer 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 merciless vengeance . Soon enough Ishmael aware about the great white whale who claimed the captain's leg and Ahab's determination to seek vendetta on the beast that crippled and scarred him , no matter what the cost to himself , his crew or ship .

Yet another take on Melville's classic about a relentless battle of wills . 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 through 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 such 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 . Emotive and thrilling musical score by composer 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 ¨Butterfly on a wheel¨ his best movie.

Other renditions about this famous novel is as follows: 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 adaptation 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 .

It seems that each filmed version of Moby-Dick is compelled to be worse than the one before and that each embodier of the partially disembodied Ahab must make his predecessor seem better, not just in the distance of time but also in distanced performance. Who will underperform William Hurt I hope never to see. Each scriptwriter also must feel a need to demonstrate the superiority of Melville's original, both in his concept and execution. The most recent version appears somewhat like a Second City take on Moby-Dick Meets The Outsiders: all the tortured Jugendangst! Ethan Hawke does do a good C. Thomas Howell sendup, but Hawke should rather be doing a good performance of a first mate, one who is one step below the ship's master. Even the Pequod gets nonverisimilitude. A square-rigged whaler gets turned into a bark. If people cared enough to write, finance, film, and present what is generally regarded as a if not the preeminent work of American fiction, why was care and cash not more carefully scripted and directed? Even the cgi attempt at the whale of whales had the look of an audition submission for an early ScyFy project.

(7.5/10) My husband and I picked it up at our local rental place and we were surprised at how well it was done. Really strong performances from William Hurt and Ethan Hawke as Ahab and Starbuck, and the rest of the roles were well-cast, too. The filmmakers managed to capture a lot of the symbolism and themes of Melville's novel, and if you think about what was happening in Melville's time (civil war was brewing, American society seemed to be disintegrating), the mini-series makes it clear that the story was about much more than a Nantucket whaling expedition. Melville was issuing a warning to his fellow Americans that still has resonance today. We're Canadian, so it was fun to see that much of the movie was filmed in Nova Scotia. The whale special effects were a little weak at times, but otherwise, well worth watching.

The story treatment, production, and acting are all very good. The casting is excellent. The dialogue moves well among the characters.

The long fiction takes a while to spin out when reading, and the writers have managed to retain the story in an efficient format. The historical background lays easily under the plot and dialogue and in short long shots. The character development and setup are worth the wait for the ocean drama.

doubt though that we would find, in the novel or in the time period, statements like "I didn't sign on for this?" and "Are you OK?". OK for example is a modern word that came about in the middle of the last century, not a hundred years before. Nevertheless, the modern attributes to add to the flow and so I don't object.

There is something captivating about Encore's 2 part version of Moby Dick. While the other reviews are accurate to point out: Ethan Hawke seems clueless, as if he isn't even sure why he is on a ship; and Hurt is hammy and often hard to understand. Somehow that adds to the charm.

The Pip being rescued from Ish early on is indeed out of place and completely unrealistic. It feels like a deleted scene from Lord of the Rings part 1, and the rest of the adaptation contains similar out of place, unrealistic scenes.

There is still a strong draw to it. The charisma of QQ and the various bro-mancing while playing dress up on a boat, pretending to be whaling, it's hard to pin down what makes it work for me.

It's not "so bad it's funny" as much as it's, so oddly put together it becomes compelling. After every scene I wonder if I missed something, or why I don't understand the Starbuck character yet, I marvel at the crew's willingness to cheer after ho-hum speeches about revenge, and the hot potato blame game going on with the crew.

The Ahab back-story is ludicrous yet Gillian Anderson is just fun to watch on screen and the "love story" with Hurt, I could watch that for hours on end as I never quite get where it's going, or what the point is. I'm on edge waiting for some plot point or character development that remains out of reach.

It's like Moby Dick himself, it's a tease for most of the 2 parts, yet I've watched this now a few times over, each time trying to catch something that I'm missing, perhaps the real story is just another few scenes away, or maybe I missed something when I got up for a drink of water?

It reminds me a little of a Christopher Nolan film, it's pretty, full of hammy actors and I always feel like there must be another explanation that got cut or edited.

"Go deeper" indeed.

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.

Unfortunately, this remake should have remained undone. Despite reputable actors, the film does not touch and the tension never arises. The directing and the screenplay is weak, e.g. suddenly we are informed that the Pequod has been to sea for 30 months(!), while it appears as they just left harbor. The madness of Ahab comes out as likable and understandable and the rationality and the sense of Starbuck appears theatrical. The three harpooners play inconspicuous parts in the film instead of adding to the tension. Ishmael - poorly played with a constant snug smile by Charlie Cox - looks simply ridiculous throughout the film. In summary a disappointing remake.

Call me Murf, no scratch that, call me Ishmael ! This version of Money Dick, and save your penis jokes for later, is quite good! I'd remembered at Newman we pulled apart all the characters and analyzed them to death! Ishmael in the bible, meant every man was for him, and every man was against him. Sounds like you and me! I think the reason most people enjoyed this awesome book was they could relate to all the characters plight and sorrows and hopes! You'll be pleased to know Ethan Hawke does a spectacular job at acting as the main protagonist ! Have fun with this three part movie, and as always, read the tome too! Pax, Murf

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.

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.

The best thing about this adaptation is the cast, featuring decent actors in even fairly minor roles, e.g. Gillian Anderson who plays the captain's wife, and Donald Sutherland who plays the preacher. Eddie Marsan, an extremely underrated actor, is probably the star turn here, playing a very thuggish Stubb. Starbuck (Ethan Hawke) and Queequeg (Trujillo) are also well portrayed.

However, the film falls down on the two main (human) characters Ishmael (Cox) and Ahab (Hurt). Cox isn't bad, but he's also not that good either. William Hurt, though is miscast. He mumbles through a lot of the performance, and does not look fanatical enough. Sometimes when he's delivering angry speeches, he comes over as a kind uncle. Shame really, since Hurt has turned in decent performances elsewhere.

Both Nantucket and the Pequod are recreated well. The CGI is respectable, showing that a decent amount of money was spent on the production. However, cynics will notice that with the exception of a single storm scene, the ship seems to sail on ridiculously calm seas.

Moby Dick doesn't transfer to the screen well, as many of the book's fans constantly remind us. This adaptation is one of the better ones. This version is probably not as good as the Peck film, but I think it's better than the Patrick Stewart miniseries. (Stewart - again a good actor, was miscast as Ahab). As for the liberties taken with the storyline - I think these have been exaggerated - the inclusion of Ahab's wife is a major change, but not as intrusive as you might think.

Whilst a good overall production I felt it was too drawn out and could have been cut by 50%. Not as good as the Gregory Peck version as he really captured Ahab perfectly.

Other reviewers have touched on the quality of the actors and of the adaptation itself. Since I love Hurt and Hawke, my opinion would be a little biased. But, Jeez, Louise, with all of Hollywood's political correctness and environmental awareness, all they had to do was consult with their buds at Greenpeace to know that whale herds are called flocks and whale babies are called chicklings.

Herman Melville's Moby Dick is a brilliant book in every way, but it has proved to be a very difficult one to adapt. As an adaptation fans of the book will find much to complain about with this version, but an adaptation stands a fairer chance at being judged on its own. In that regard this version has its moments but falls short. It is well-shot and edited, the authenticity of the costumes, scenery and the production design is to be admired, the music is rousing and haunting and there are three bright spots. Eddie Marsan is very likable and charming, Ethan Hawke brings a moving quality to a conflicted character and Raul Trujillo is a fun Queequeg. The cast is a talented one but apart from those three actors it falls flat. Gillian Anderson could have been a bright spot but she is so dour that she comes across as unusually dull while Charlie Cox has one expression only literally and that's smug but that Ishmael is very one-dimensional does him no favours. More problematic is William Hurt, who initially seemed a great choice for Ahab but tries way too hard so Ahab's vengeance and complexity is lost, he really overeggs the pudding here and shouts and strains his way through the role. How Moby Dick is rendered is one of the adaptation's major failings, the adaptation gets the colour and the way he swims exactly right but the CGI for the whale is often lousy and too over-proportioned. The script also fails, sometimes there is some of Melville's prose but a lot of it does sound too modern and it noticeably jars. The characters have very little depth, Starbuck excepted, Ahab is one of the most fascinating characters in all of literature but seems too humanised at the beginning and later becomes too much of a clown due to how Hurt portrays him. The back-stories were a good idea but don't say very much and a lot of them drag on for far too long, the first forty minutes in particular are quite pedestrian. The story is short on suspense and the first half drags quite badly and doesn't get much better, ending with a very contrived finale that is choreographed like a mix of playground antics and cheap video-game. In conclusion, has moments but lacking in a lot of areas. 4/10 Bethany Cox

This version of old Herman's tale has the special effects John Huston wished he'd had in his 1956 movie instead of his miniatures and rubber whale bobbing around in the studio tank.

However, special effects aren't everything when it comes to "Moby Dick" movies. It's the ominous mood and the realization of Captain Ahab and his obsession with the leg-removing white whale that drives the three best films: Huston's 1956 version and the two mini-series, Franc Roddam's 1998 one and Mike Barker's 2011 effort.

I guess each of the filmmakers wanted to give their film something more than the previous one, and this version grew on me as it went along. The filmmakers took liberties even using a whaling schooner instead of the classic, 3-masted Nantucket sailing ship, however the scenes at sea are brilliant, especially the Pequod heading into an awesome looking storm.

John Hurt gives us a more urbane Ahab. Instead of turning up a third of the way through like the Pequod's other single-minded skippers, we open at home with the Ahabs including Gillian Anderson as Mrs. Ahab. I was really alarmed when Ahab even did a pratfall off his newly fitted whalebone prosthesis. It had to get better from there, and thankfully it did.

Mind you there is enough in the book for writers to grab fresh Ahab moments the other versions didn't include. The passage where Pip the cabin boy was lost at sea and then cared for by Ahab wasn't in Houston's version at all.

Despite criticism at the time, Huston lucked in with Gregory Peck. Peck was a larger than life actor and he gave Ahab a monumental quality as though he had detached himself from Mount Rushmore. Patrick Stewart as Ahab projected gravitas with a strong Shakespearean quality while John Hurt gives us a decidedly bi-polar Ahab.

All versions run the risk of an overload of outlandish characters that would not seem out of place at a "Star Trek" convention: Ahab, Queequeg, Father Mapple, Elijah, Bildad etc. The balance comes with Starbuck. He's a grounded character who sees Ahab subverting the crew and confronts him to save all their souls; his casting is as critical as Ahab's. Leo Genn was the rock of normality in Huston's film, and Ted Levine was brilliant in Roddam's version as he stands up to Stewart's fireworks, but Ethan Hawke had a trickier time reacting to the roller-coaster of moods that Hurt projects.

The two later versions don't match the ominous mood of Houston's "Moby Dick". Not only that, but Huston and screenwriter Ray Bradbury, the famous science fiction writer, added something all the other versions copied, Ahab strapped to the whale. It's a nice touch, and although it's not original Melville, maybe he would have slapped his forehead and thought, "Why didn't I think of that?"

For those with an ear for such things, The three versions have inspired scores, All three composers Philip Sainton (1956), Christopher Gordon (1998) and Richard G. Mitchell (2011) added to the excitement of those wild rides in the flimsy whaleboats when the harpooned whales run out the lines - back when the whales actually stood a chance of turning the tables.

By the end, although Hurt's interpretation is a big departure from the others, this is a brilliant looking film with stunning scenes at sea and a Moby Dick that leaves us with a sense of awe.

One of the greatest books in history and one of the poorest adaptations....ever. Don't bother.

Well, for starters, it was a real stretch to understand what anyone was saying. This went on way too long. It could have been a one hour movie. What a shame and frankly, a sham for such a wonderful novel. Skip it is my best recommendation.

As the novel opens, 'Call me Ishmael' are the first words of the sole survivor of a lost whaling ship as he relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick. They are words that have become often quoted by many authors and poets and for any number of reasons, yet they open the mysteries and beauties of one of the greatest American novels every written. There have been many cinematic productions of MOBY DICK, Herman Melville's 1851 supreme novel - 1956 with Gregory Peck as Ahab and 1998 with Patrick Stewart in the Ahab role - and each has its strong and weak points. There are many detractors of this current version who rightfully state that too few of Ahab's great speeches and lines have been omitted and that this version is too influenced by contemporary reasoning. But the tale is a great one and the splendid extended reveries and 'speeches' of Captain Ahab rest beautifully on the written page, a factor that allows mulling over the words and the meaning and the drama that may just fall a bit heavy when incorporated into a screenplay. Better the flavor of the story be conveyed by what cinema allows - imagery - that books can't mimic. This current version does just that - it finds the core of the obsession of a man driven by a struggle with his past, with nature, and with the personal vendetta against the great white whale, Moby Dick, who claimed Ahab's leg in the past. Nigel Williams is responsible for the screenplay, Mike Barker directs.

Ishmael (Charlie Cox) sees his dream of a whaling voyage come true when he and his Hapoonist friend Queequeeg (Raoul Trujillo) join the crew of the Pequod, a sailing vessel leaving port in Nantucket. What Ishmael and the mates don't initially appreciate is that the Pequod's monomaniacal Captain Ahab (William Hurt) is taking them all on a mad and personal mission to slay the great whale Moby Dick, an obsession that will open their eyes to the wonder and spectacle of man, of beast, and the inescapable nature of both. The flavor of the crew is well captured by a solid cast, including Ethan Hawke as a rather weak Starbuck, Eddie Marsan as Stubb, Billy Boyd as Elijah, Billy Merasty as Tashtego, Onyekachi Ejim as Dagoo, Matthew as Flask, James Gilbert as Steelkit, Gary Levert as Perth, and Daniyah Ysrayl as the cabin boy Pip. The special effects offer vivid and credible underwater activity of Moby Dick and the clashes with nature both within the crew and on the ocean are very well represented. The final underwater scene with Ahab strapped dead to the still alive and swimming Moby Dick is unforgettably realistic and a fine balance with the ever-innocent Ishmael grasping the empty coffin as the sole survivor of the voyage.

William Hurt gives us a different Ahab in Nigel Williams' script adaptation - less mad but more obsessed, less cruel and more vulnerable than we are used to seeing - but he is strong and takes us with him as he meets his end in his struggle with Nature. It is a moving adventure and despite the omissions that seem to bother most viewers, the movie does cast a spell over the entire 3 hours.

Grady Harp

Fairly recognizable cast, with William Hurt as a surly, mean-spirited, and driven Ahab, versus the more frighteningly crazy character Melville describes and most other directors have delivered. This in many ways is more believable, as a truly bat-sh** captain probably wouldn't have been trusted by the ships owners.

If you haven't read the book or seen other versions, this is actually pretty approachable. Moves along fairly well.