I admit, I have a soft spot for submarine thriller movies that dates back to watching Ice Station Zebra on television when I was in middle school. I have no idea why; you could never get me near a submarine, much less persuade me to board one. Still, every time I see a sub movie I end up watching it, which is what I did when Hunter Killer showed up on Netflix.
This is a military/political submarine thriller that teeters on the edge of disaster for nearly the entire two hours and one minute it runs. Gerard Butler, always amazing in everything he does, plays a newly-appointed sub captain who is sent to investigate why another sub went silent while surveilling a Russian counterpart. He and his crew discover a disaster and perform a daring rescue while the political and military situation topside starts to rapidly deteriorate. As a Russian minister attempts a coup, the sub is then sent to try another, nearly impossible rescue to stop what could end up being WWIII. Meanwhile, almost everyone in Washington DC overreacts and tries to make bad judgment calls, with only a couple of characters managing to hold off hurling missles at each other.
This is one of those powder keg and bonfire plots that does keep you on the edge of your seat. As a storyteller I knew what was going to happen as soon as Gerard got his new orders, and still I went along for the ride. As stories go it's a bit far-fetched, and has a plethura of unlikely scenarios, such as an American black ops team being dropped at Polyarny, the Russians' naval base for their northern fleet (trust me, in reality they wouldn't get within fifty miles of that place) but you won't mind that, either. My only other criticism is that Gary Oldman was seriously wasted playing the idiot admiral who keeps trying to go to Defcon 1. He's the kind of actor you want fighting guys like that, but I suppose they needed a convincing antagonist. Available to watch on Netflix.
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