| Action / Thriller | MPAA:PG |
You've probably heard me mention my friend Skip. We had the distinct honor of attending Naval Hospital Corps School together. He was the baby of the class, and I had one of the three full time cars ( I was also one of the Class Tutors, which meant that I had a lot of time available). Apparently, being in the Navy makes you automatically want to see Navy films. I don't know why, it must be something in the food at boot camp. Anyway, Skip wanted to know my opinion on the film Crimson Tide. Ok Skip, I've seen it, and am ready to pass judgment.
But first, the film. The opening scenes set the background for the story. In Russia, some hard-core, old line politician is sparking a rebellion. He and a sizable chunk of the army take over several neighboring military installation including a submarine base, and a missile site. He tells his government, if they don't meet his demands, he might do something extremely stupid (don't they all). This has our government activating our military, including Lt. Commander Hunter (Denzel Washington) who was enjoying a birthday party for his daughter. He and a friend travel to the base, where he meets his new CO, Capt. Ramsey (Gene Hackman). Ramsey explains what he expects from his new XO (for you non veterans (or non Star Trek fans), the XO is the second in command), they go to the boat (the Alabama) where Ramsey hypes up the crew, explains how it may be up to their ballistic missile submarine to be the first and last line of defense for the country, and sends them all out to sea. As they're traveling to their patrol area, we learn that the Captain is a bit of an old fashioned combat sailor, and he's not particularly fond of the brainy eggheads that are pervading the officer corps now -- and the fact that Hunter went to Harvard makes their dinner discussions on the philosophy of war quite spirited. Then they get hit with a rather severe galley fire, Hunter is near and rushes in to help. The Captain decides this would be a good time for a missile drill. Hunter, who had just barely gotten the galley fire contained, has to run up to the bridge in order to play his part in the drill. He tells the captain he has misgivings about his timing, which earns him a minor dressing down. The drill is canceled when one of the Chiefs collapses and dies from a heart attack. This occasions more words between Hunter and Ramsey. It all becomes moot when they get an Emergency Action Message (EAM) telling them that their day has suddenly taken a turn for the worse -- the rebels have the launch codes, and are fueling the rockets. It's time to do what hasn't been done since W.W.II. One problem, there is a Russian hunter sub waiting for them to make noise. They go deep to evade, but go too deep for the radios to function, just as they're receiving another EAM. All they get is a fragment mentioning Nuclear Launch. Hunter wants to get the rest of the message, but Ramsey won't go up until it's time to launch the missile. Hunter mentions raising the radio bouy which will go up high enough to function. Unfortunately, the winch for the bouy jams, making a great deal of noise, the hunter sub locates them and launches a couple of torpedoes at them. The Alabama evades the torpedoes, but they lose the radio bouy, and their deep water communications ability. Ramsey still wants to launch; Hunter still wants to find out what the message said. Eventually this disagreement turns into a major problem. Ramsey tells Hunter that he will relieve him of duty and replace him with someone who will launch the missiles, and starts to, but Hunter, quoting the regulations regarding nuclear launch protocol has the captain arrested and confined to his quarters. As they go shallow to try to receive the message, the Russian sub attacks again. The Alabama evades the torpedoes, and launch 2 of thier own, destroying the enemy sub. Too bad it got off one more shot before it blew up. The Alabama takes a glancing blow that cuts off the propulsion system, damages the radio gear, and springs several leaks. 3 crewmen are trapped in a flooding bilge space, and are drowned when a pipe bursts and their division officer is ordered to close the hatch before the ship sinks. Just as they are about to reach "crush depth" , the propulsion systems come back on line, and they head back up. The officer forced to cut off his crewmen bulls his way into the captains quarters, where Ramsey gets him started on a mutiny. While Hunter is busy in the radio room, checking on the repair work, some of the other officers are releasing the Ramsey, getting weapons, and taking over the boat. They lock up Hunter and the loyal officers in the wardroom, where they get rescued by the head sonarman. Hunter convinces the weapons officer that launching the missiles is a bad idea, and starts heading up to the conn. When the weapons officer won't fire the missiles Ramsey pulls his sidearm and threatens to shoot him -- only to realize that no one else knows the combination to the safe, so he threatens another crewman. The weapons officer opens the safe and give Ramsey the trigger, but Hunter has beaten him again -- he's removed the launch key. So Ramsey and his crew go up to conn and confront Hunter and his crew. There the finally get the rest of the message, which was a recall notice. Last scene (really): A review board is passing judgement on the case of mutiny. They find that both Hunter and Ramsey were both right and wrong. Ramsey applies for early retirement, and reccomends Hunter be given his own command ASAP. And they all live happily ever after.
Over-all impression? A genuine edge of the seat action thriller (quite literally, in fact). Nuclear Holocaust is always a good way to build tension, and with all that Navy jargon flying around, the action gets hot and heavy. Washington (who would be perfect for the lead in a movie called Laid Back Action Hero) and Hackman give excellent performances. Problems -- mostly with the script. Pets (the captain has a dog onboard, and a crewman has an aquarium with several fish in it -- makes a lot of sense doesn't it) on a combat Naval vessel are a ludicrous notion. I didn't spend a whole lot of time on-board a ship, but what time I did spend leads me to believe that there would be no time to even think about pets, much less care for them. Ramsey taking his dog out in the corridor so he can take a leak (the dog, not Ramsey) shows a lack of respect for his boat, and for his crewmen (especially the one who has to clean up afterward) -- not to mention creating safety and health hazards. But then again, Ramsey threating to murder one of his own crewmen, just to start W.W. III is a pretty bad sign too. But, if you like action films - even just a little, you'll want to see this film.