Also saw the new cold war inspired / 90s era throwback submarine action thriller Hunter Killer. This is a movie with very bad reviews and very bad marketing that I think is a victim of low expectations and an easy target. I don’t think its half as bad as the reviews are saying, but sometimes a movie gets a target on its back and, when the end result is flawed, it basically gets murdered.
The film stars Gerard Butler as a the new skipper on a US submarine (set now… not during the Cold War). He is tasked with figuring out what happened to a pair of missing US and Russian subs deep in Russian waters. That’s when a coup occurs and the Russian president is taken hostage by his own military with the aim of blaming the US and launching a shooting war between rival converging navies. A team of special operatives are sent in to rescue the president and stop World War 3.
It’s a pot boiler war film with a lot of hackneyed tough guy and technical dialog (down bubble 60%!). It’s basically a submarine war film that reminds me a lot of The Hunt for Red October and Crimson Tide (both of which are better films).
But my low expectations were met by a surprise. Yes, the dialog is sometimes hackneyed, the characters are thinly (if at all) drawn, and yes I doubt some of the technical aspects of the subs… but I was entertained nonetheless. I couldn’t deny that the suspense is real, that the action was often exciting.
Now, if you are a technical purist and demand accuracy, this film will fail your test of a good movie. I’ve never been on a submarine and don’t know a lot about them, but this sub makes maneuvers that are more akin to a cliche fighter jet chase than anything else. I’m sure physics demands that submarine could not take that turn, dive that quick, or survive that rock wall. But, if the core emotion of the movie works, I can forgive technical issues like this and let it slide.
So maybe if you want a thrilling military film about good soldiers and officers trying to prevent World War 3… and you miss those kinds of movies… maybe this one is worth your time. Yes, it’s kind of dumb and the dialog can be corny and there are a few plot holes, but I was entertained by the suspense and the action. And that’s what this movie was aiming for.
Score: 84