YMMV / In the Heart of the Sea

• Nausea Fuel:
  • When it comes to enter into a sperm whale's stinking skull, no one would like to be in Thomas' shoes. With poor Thomas retching and struggling to not vomit. Bonus points for tripping right into what looks like "fresh" spermaceti.
  • Not to mention what the crew of the Essex had to do in order to survive. And this was scarily common at the time in incidents like this. Thankfully, we don't see any of it, but the implication alone is enough to make one heave.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • When Chase and the crew of the Essex have no choice but to resort to cannibalism to survive after one of their crew members passed away in his sleep. And they were on a boat with no fire to cook with. So they had to eat him raw. In the present day, as the elderly storyteller Thomas narrates with great remorse over his actions, "We ate the heart first".
  • When Captain Pollard and his crew members on his boat are drawing straws to see which of them has to die just so that they could have something to eat. As one crew member, Pollard's cousin, prepares to end his captain's life, he instead turns the gun on himself. As the Captain Pollard protests too late in stopping his cousin's suicide, the rest of his crew waste no time in cutting at the dead man's foot so they could begin eating. And the man's not even been dead a few seconds. They're just that desperate.
  • After the two boats are separated after Chase fails to murder the giant bull sperm whale, a ship passes by Pollard's boat after some time has passed and the men of the ship are treated to a ghastly sight: Pollard and another surviving member are emaciated and their small boat riddled with the bones of the men they had to cannibize to survive. As the captain reacts, "May God have mercy!" before rescuing them.
  • Chase, Thomas and another remaining member are the last surviving three remaining on their boat and are severely emaciated and very near death before being found by a passing ship.
• Rooting for the Empire: Due to Deliberate Values Dissonance, it's not hard to root for the giant bull sperm whale after the whalers almost killed its partner and calf.
• Tearjerker: As the crew prepares to leave the deserted island in search of help, Chase bids a sad farewell to his friend who chose to stay behind with the three other men. The pair are in tears with Chase promising his friend that they're returning to come get him and that they'll play cards once again together. Sadly, that never comes to fruition as Chase's friend eventually dies on the deserted island but the other somehow miraculously still survived.
• Signature Scene: The whale destroying the Nantucket. The film does an excellent job of making it seem like a force of nature and conveying the sheer mass and might of the whale, and making the viewers feel just how powerful these animals are when they choose to fight.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The ship, ocean effects, and whales look downright amazing! While the film obtained mixed reviews, even critics who disliked the film often made note of how good the CGI and practical effects were.

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