Cillian Murphy and Tom Holland's "outstanding" historical drama is now trending on Netflix

A historical adventure movie released back in 2015 is now trending on Netflix. In the Heart of the Sea, featuring a cast including megastars Tom Holland and Cillian Murphy, was added to the streaming platform on 5 November, and it's already proving popular among viewers.

Labelled "outstanding" by a review on IMDB, the film is based on Nathaniel Philbrick's 2000 non-fiction book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. It covers the real-life tragedy of a American whaling ship sinking in Essex back in 1820.

The movie adaptation, set in 1850, sees ship crew in deep trouble when they encounter a huge albino bull sperm whale out at sea and try their hardest to survive.

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Since hitting Netflix last week, the movie has attracted a new wave of fans as it is now the fifth most-watched movie in the UK.

In the film, Murphy played second mate Matthew Joy, while Holland portrayed cabin boy Thomas Nickerson.

When the film was released 11 years ago the Irishman had starred in just two seasons of popular hit drama Peaky Blinders, while Holland was a year away from stepping into the role of Marvel superhero Spider-Man.

Alongside Murphy and Holland, Chris Hemsworth also stars in In the Heart of the Sea, as well as Benjamin Walker and former Game of Thrones star Michelle Fairley.

Ron Howard directed the film from a screenplay by Charles Leavitt, while the likes of Brian Grazer, Will Ward, Joe Roth, Paula Weinstein and Howard himself were the producers.

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IMDB users rated the movie 6.9/10 from 375 reviews. One featured review read: “Quite a few moments that click make this top-of-the-range movie more than watchable.

“Appropriate colour cinematography splendidly conveys the bleaker qualities of the chase. Exciting and thrilling musical score. Very good , better than average. Well worth watching.”

Another review added: “This is an epic story and made more interesting knowing there is truth within the fiction.

“I did not see anywhere in this film where the actors failed to give you the full feeling of the character they were portraying.”

In the Heart of the Sea is streaming now on Netflix.

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