With state-of-the-art Russian submarine Kursk now at the bottom of the sea, and Russian rescue equipment mostly sold off, Royal Navy Commodore David Russell (Colin Firth) asks Admiral Vyacheslav Grudzinsky (Peter Simonischek) if his bosses will let the British in: “not until I’ve tried a sufficient number of times to do the impossible with the… Kursk: The Last Mission Read More
Surfacing Now – Seven Submarine Movies To Dive Into
The red posters. The blue boilersuits. A tagline with a water-related pun. The phrase “cat and mouse”. The seawater squirting into the missile room when the boat suffers a mild tap. You can’t beat a good submarine movie. I’ll admit I’m conflicted now. On the one hand you’re isolated and no one can get to… Surfacing Now – Seven Submarine Movies To Dive Into Read More
Das Boot (Director’s Cut) 5 stars
*** Check out my submarine movies section *** “They are drinking at the bar, celebrating our sinking! Not yet my friends, not yet!” shouts U-96’s captain with delight, as they practically bounce up onto the surface of the narrow Straits of Gibraltar, which they’ve been marooned at the bottom of for 15 hours. He’s not a lover… Das Boot (Director’s Cut) Read More
Black Sea 4 stars
*** Check out my submarine movies section *** Black Sea is a brutal watch, almost a horror film as the deaths mount, with fear itself a virus. And although not a straight East-West underwater battle, it still has Westerners fighting with Russians. At one point they each take over different ends of their submarine, with the Brits… Black Sea Read More
The Hunt For Red October 4 stars
*** Check out my submarine movies section *** I miss the Cold War. We knew where we stood – permanently on the brink of nuclear annihilation, obviously. But those proxy wars and chess matches were, mostly, holding us back from the brink, playing out within agreed confines. The dangers were huge but we at least knew who… The Hunt For Red October Read More
Crimson Tide 4 stars
*** Check out my submarine movies section *** “In the nuclear world the enemy is war itself” says Lt Commander Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington), during a rather spiky discussion with his war-hardened and instinctive Captain Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman). Two men: one Hunter, one Killer, I mean Ramsey, with the fate of the world in their hands…. Crimson Tide Read More
Down Periscope 2 stars
*** Check out my submarine movies section *** Down Periscope is far from a feminist film though you’ll have to wait a long time to see so many men doing the cleaning. I’ve not witnessed such a good scrubbing from a team of guys since the clingfilm-and-Windolene clear-up job in John Wick when they turned up to… Down Periscope Read More
Hunter Killer 3.5 stars
*** Check out my submarine movies section *** One side-effect of the current political situation is that films like Hunter Killer are stuck in that 1990s post-Cold War warm glow where protagonists and presidents are decent people who just happen to have been born on different sides of an arbitrary border. While their real life equivalents are… Hunter Killer Read More