2010: MOBY DICK (2010) **1/2 Ah yes, Herman Melville's classic tale of helicopters and submarines battling with nuclear weapons against a giant whale that can fly and go on land. Yes, as a matter of fact they do blame this on Melville in the opening credits. They apparently felt comfortable taking even more liberties with the original text than usual. None of which impressed me, for the first half or so. But then, somehow, in some zany-ass way, it really does capture some of insanity and obsession of the great work. And if Barry Bostwick-as a renegade U.S. Naval submarine commander-isn't exactly what Melville had in mind, I think he catches a helluva lot more of it than some of the more orthodox, pedestrian, Captain Ahabs that we've been beset with. Ahab, my friends, was not an orthodox pedestrian. I haven't read enough Melville to think of him as more than a really good writer, but he was not a pretentious one. He certainly wouldn't have recognized the fullness of his masterpiece in this (because it's not there, and can't be unless you go on and on and on, which they don't, much), but I don't think he would be offended. Bemused, but not offended. I wouldn't want to have had to be the guy who pitched it to a producer though.
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