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Crimson Tide
Military Drama / English / 1995
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Another submarine thriller that was mentioned in the Greyhound thread.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
Implying the US is a democracy. Friggen' dumbass.
A dog. On a submarine. His owner's the bad guy at least.
I don't remember all of the other submarine movies well enough to point out similarities, but this seems like the sort of movie to fall into that same little forgettable pocket of cinema.
Of the submarine-centric and submarine-tangential movies I've seen, I would easily place Das Boot and Greyhound at the top of the pile. The setting of World War II and the archaic technology at the time adds to the atmosphere, and those movies make an effort to get into the nitty gritty of naval warfare, which I feel is the most appealing aspect of these movies.
When you drag this concept into modern or near-modern day, like the 90s, all of sudden you get stuff like Hunt for Red October whereas the submarine is more or less the set of the movie, rather than the setting of the movie.
This movie may take place in a submarine, and involve certain naval conventions, but the story really isn't about the submarine, or exploring the powers and limitations of the submarine, and it doesn't even need to involve a submarine at all.
This movie could just as easily take place on a ship, or on land, or really anywhere sufficiently remote to contrive a communication difficulty.
The whole point of the movie is Russian rebels get ahold of ICBMs, Hackman is a submarine Captain and Washington is his executive officer. Hackman has a stubborn shoot-first-ask-questions-later attitude, which seems like a great personality type to be operating a nuclear submarine, and Washington is his foil, voicing in increasing disagreement with how Hackman manages the ship.
Hackman's just an *******. Not only does he endanger an innocent dog throughout the entire movie, but he's entirely unconcerned with the people under his command and the people he may unjustly kill by launching a nuke.
Sure enough, they get instructions to launch a nuke, they're about to go through with it when they get into a tangle with another sub and the interference mangles a follow-up transmission potentially countermanding the launch.
Both characters make varyingly reasonable arguments for why they should launch and why they shouldn't launch, but this manifests in a silly power struggle over the sub.
Hackman orders Washington arrested for insubordination and ultimately mutiny to which Washington understandably argues "Dude, you can't replace me, I exist specifically to check your power. You need my assent to launch a nuke."
Other characters agree with this.
Then Washington turns around and goes, "Actually, YOU'RE under arrest, cause I say so." and they arrest Hackman.
And I'm like, what the ****? How come he can't arrest you, but you can arrest him? What was the whole point of that ****ing speech to say that the power to launch a nuke requires two people, when you can just casually remove one?
Also, if he has the authority to unseat you, then how the **** do you have the authority to unseat him back? Oh, GUNS? Of course, the ultimate authority.
"Yes sir, I took a military vessel hostage to launch an ICBM missile at one of our enemies. It seemed like the best idea, sir."
This stupid power struggle bit is so predictable. As soon as the radio breaks and people are grabbing guns to retake control of the ship you already know exactly how this movie ends.
What ticks me off is that the takeaway by the authorities was as juvenile as "you're both right and you're both wrong". That they both acted in the best interests of the country.
Mind you, Hackman held a gun up to Aragorn's head and threatened to kill him if he didn't nuke a ******* country, and when he didn't do it, he threatened to murder some rando instead.
That is just pure villain energy. How in the **** does this guy get a "thank you", a voluntary resignation, and a "OOPS, MY BAD" kind of apology at the end? What a vile piece of shit.
Could have torpedo'd a ******* dog too.
The performances were nothing special,
the music was nothing special,
the action was nothing special. Just a very formulaic military drama overall.
Final Verdict: [Meh...]
Crimson Tide
Military Drama / English / 1995
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Another submarine thriller that was mentioned in the Greyhound thread.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
"We're here to preserve democracy, not to practice it."
Implying the US is a democracy. Friggen' dumbass.
A dog. On a submarine. His owner's the bad guy at least.
I don't remember all of the other submarine movies well enough to point out similarities, but this seems like the sort of movie to fall into that same little forgettable pocket of cinema.
Of the submarine-centric and submarine-tangential movies I've seen, I would easily place Das Boot and Greyhound at the top of the pile. The setting of World War II and the archaic technology at the time adds to the atmosphere, and those movies make an effort to get into the nitty gritty of naval warfare, which I feel is the most appealing aspect of these movies.
When you drag this concept into modern or near-modern day, like the 90s, all of sudden you get stuff like Hunt for Red October whereas the submarine is more or less the set of the movie, rather than the setting of the movie.
This movie may take place in a submarine, and involve certain naval conventions, but the story really isn't about the submarine, or exploring the powers and limitations of the submarine, and it doesn't even need to involve a submarine at all.
This movie could just as easily take place on a ship, or on land, or really anywhere sufficiently remote to contrive a communication difficulty.
The whole point of the movie is Russian rebels get ahold of ICBMs, Hackman is a submarine Captain and Washington is his executive officer. Hackman has a stubborn shoot-first-ask-questions-later attitude, which seems like a great personality type to be operating a nuclear submarine, and Washington is his foil, voicing in increasing disagreement with how Hackman manages the ship.
Hackman's just an *******. Not only does he endanger an innocent dog throughout the entire movie, but he's entirely unconcerned with the people under his command and the people he may unjustly kill by launching a nuke.
Sure enough, they get instructions to launch a nuke, they're about to go through with it when they get into a tangle with another sub and the interference mangles a follow-up transmission potentially countermanding the launch.
Both characters make varyingly reasonable arguments for why they should launch and why they shouldn't launch, but this manifests in a silly power struggle over the sub.
Hackman orders Washington arrested for insubordination and ultimately mutiny to which Washington understandably argues "Dude, you can't replace me, I exist specifically to check your power. You need my assent to launch a nuke."
Other characters agree with this.
Then Washington turns around and goes, "Actually, YOU'RE under arrest, cause I say so." and they arrest Hackman.
And I'm like, what the ****? How come he can't arrest you, but you can arrest him? What was the whole point of that ****ing speech to say that the power to launch a nuke requires two people, when you can just casually remove one?
Also, if he has the authority to unseat you, then how the **** do you have the authority to unseat him back? Oh, GUNS? Of course, the ultimate authority.
"Yes sir, I took a military vessel hostage to launch an ICBM missile at one of our enemies. It seemed like the best idea, sir."
This stupid power struggle bit is so predictable. As soon as the radio breaks and people are grabbing guns to retake control of the ship you already know exactly how this movie ends.
What ticks me off is that the takeaway by the authorities was as juvenile as "you're both right and you're both wrong". That they both acted in the best interests of the country.
Mind you, Hackman held a gun up to Aragorn's head and threatened to kill him if he didn't nuke a ******* country, and when he didn't do it, he threatened to murder some rando instead.
That is just pure villain energy. How in the **** does this guy get a "thank you", a voluntary resignation, and a "OOPS, MY BAD" kind of apology at the end? What a vile piece of shit.
Could have torpedo'd a ******* dog too.
The performances were nothing special,
the music was nothing special,
the action was nothing special. Just a very formulaic military drama overall.
Final Verdict: [Meh...]