The Mercy (2018)

To say that I found the end Title Card the most moving thing about The Mercy might be doing the film something of an injustice, but it's true.

I walked in to see the film without any knowledge of the true-life events behind the story, aside from those that I had gleaned from the trailer, which were quite a few.

The story is engagingly told for the first half. Sadly the at sea parts offered very little novelty and felt very much like movie-making-by-the-numbers to me. At this point I was more engaged with the story of what was going on back on dry land.

The acting is fine. Colin Firth gives a slightly less sympathetic performance than usual - in fact it's only his presence that elevates the part into being more than someone you would quite happily want to be lost at sea. Rachel Weisz is the real star turn - unfortunately her part doesn't give her enough to do and I spent much of my time wishing that someone would give her a role that really made use of her abilities.

It's not a bad a film. It's one that shows promise with certain scenes - and perhaps if the trailer hadn't tried to tell the entire story, it's one that might have offered a few more surprises. Ultimately, what it was lacking was the mystery. We only know glimpses of what really happened with Donald Crowhurst's voyage, and a little more mystery might have taken the film a lot further.