The Terror (2018)

In 1850, Captain Sir James Ross treks into the frozen Artic to locate a missing expedition.  The Eskimo says that he did encounter a dying Englishman.  Ross provides pictures of the various officers and the Eskimo points to Captain Francis Crozier (Jared Harris).

In 1845, Captain Sir John Franklin (Ciaran Hinds) was given command of the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus to map the Northwest Passage.  He was aided in this by Captain Crozier and Commander James Fitzjames (Tobias Menzies).  The ships had particularly thick hulls to protect against ice and also possessed steam-powered engines to both drive the propellor and provide warmth to the ship.  In September of 1846, the ships get stuck in the ice and have to wait for the summer thaw to sail further.  The thaw never comes.  Instead, they are beset by an Inuit spirit beast that takes the form of a deformed polar bear.  In addition to the bear, the crew suffer from lead poisoned food, scurvy, and a growing threat of mutiny.

This 10-episode series follows the fate of the lost expedition as well as the efforts of Sir John's wife, Jane Franklin (Greta Scacchi) to send a rescue mission.  The series ends where it began, in the tent with Sir James Ross discussing the fate of the crew.

The setting is excellent and the characters well-realized.  The British stiff upper lip and never say die mentality shines through.  If the number of problems had been reduced by one, Crozier would likely have brought most of the men back to civilization.  It hardly matters which one, but there is definitely the straw that broke the camel's back here.

Recommended.

The Sea Beast (2022)

Somewhere at sea, a young boy clings to flotsam while a burning ship sinks a short distance away.  As he shivers on the makeshift raft, a giant sea beast swims just below the surface.  The boy is Jacob Holland and he is eventually rescued by the Inevitable, the monster-hunting ship of Captain Crow.

At an orphanage, Maisie Brumble reads a book about the various adventures of the Inevitable.  In the distant past, the sea beasts used to come on land, devour people, and destroy towns.  Now, thanks to the monster-hunting ships, vast areas of the seas were free of monsters and none could remember the land attacks.  Maisie's parents were hunters and they died at sea.  Her dream is to follow in their footsteps.  Well, except for the dying part.  Therefore, she runs away from the orphanage.  

The Inevitable is asea and chasing the Red Bluster (Moby Dick), when they spot another ship in dire straits.  Jacob Holland (Karl Urban), now an adult, argues that they must aid their fellow hunters.  Captain Crow (Jared Harris) reluctantly agrees.  Not only do they rescue the other ship, they kill the monster that was on the brink of sinking her.  Though the carcass earns a fine bounty, the monarchs are unimpressed with the recent achievements of the hunter fleet.  They propose disbanding the hunters and sending the Imperator - a leviathan of a ship - to sweep monsters from the seas.  Infuriated by this proposal, Captain Crow is on the brink of drawing sword against the monarchs when Jacob proposes a contest: if the Inevitable takes the Red Bluster, the hunters remain.  If the Imperator, then the hunters disband.

Once at sea again, the crew discovers that Maisie Brumble has stowed away.  Though Jacob wants to deposit her at the next port, Captain Crow is impressed by her pluck.  "She's all vinegar."  Of course, the Inevitable finds the Red Bluster and a death match ensues.  Jacob and Maisie are swallowed by the Bluster and the Inevitable limps to port for repairs.  Like Jonah, Geppetto, and Pinocchio, Jacob and Maisie survive being swallowed.  In fact, they soon befriend the Red Bluster.  This will complicate things when and if they get back to civilization.

The movie is quite entertaining but the premise needed further development.  As there are plans for a sequel, perhaps the backstory will be explained.  As it is, humans made up the murderousness of the monsters so that they could convince people to hunt them.  But if they were generally harmless, why do you need to exterminate them?  It doesn't work as explained.

Good popcorn fun.

Chernobyl

The HBO mini-series opens in April 1988 with Valery Legasov (Jared Harris) recording his conclusions and opinions regarding Chernobyl.  After carefully wrapping the cassette tapes in paper and hiding them for some unknown contact, he kills himself.  The narrative resumes with Lyudmilla Inatenko wandering her apartment in the middle of the night when she spots an explosion.  Moments later, the shockwave hits and her husband joins her to stare at the distant blaze.  Meanwhile, inside the nuclear plant, the technicians are trying to determine what just happened.  Anatoly Dyatlov (Paul Ritter) is the man in charge but he spends all his time laying blame and denying that there has been an explosion.  Nuclear plants meltdown but they do not explode.  Soon, Lyudmilla's husband, Vasily, departs for the fire; he is a firefighter.  As he fights the fire, it becomes obvious that the site is highly radioactive but the fire must be fought.  It is at this point that Legasov is summoned to a meeting in Moscow where he learns of the disaster and is dispatched with Deputy Minister Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgard) to determine the severity and provide solutions.  The situation is indeed dire and many Russians must sacrifice their lives to save millions.

The 5 part series shows both the heroic efforts to contain the disaster and also the political minefield of doing so in a communist state.  At one point, they get their hands on a German robot which fails immediately because it is rated to the 'stated' radiation level rather than the actual radiation.  Lying is too often the default setting and it proves catastrophic.  Without a robot, more Russian men must clear radioactive debris.  By the end, one has massive respect for the Russian people and contempt for the Russian government.

Great acting, high drama, and even educational.  Thumbs up!