Crimson Tide (1995) – A veteran submarine captain (Gene Hackman) and his idealistic young executive officer (Denzel Washinton) stand on opposite sides of an issue when the time comes to possibly start the Third World War.
Directed by Tony Scott Starring Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington, James
Gandolfini, Rocky Carroll,
A submarine is a perfect setting for a high tension, thriller. All the characters are trapped with one another. The crews of the real subs in our Navy face unique challenges in their service. They often have to remain submerged for long periods of time, their goal is to be, as one novelist put it, “a hole in the ocean”. Unseen and unheard. This also means that they may be out of communications at times, making sub commanders the last of the old school navy captains. Left to do as they think best until new orders arrive. Those orders can now be bounced off of satellites and picked up anywhere on the globe. But what if they were out of touch at a crucial moment? The real Navy works very hard to assure that it can’t happen, but where’s the movie fun in that?
What sets this movie apart from many other wartime movies is the very real struggle between the two main characters to solve the riddle of whether or not they should launch their nuclear missiles. They receive an order authorizing it, but it’s followed by another order that is cut off before it’s clear what this follow up says. Both can argue from Navy regs on the subject. This has traditionally been the great challenge for a naval officer, how to discern the correct action while far away from military authority. The result is a thriller with a much more subtle story than we normally get. Just when it seemed like Washington’s or Hackman’s characters were about to tip over into cardboard versions, the script hauled them back.
There were a couple places when it felt like the movie plodded a little bit, but overall it was a fun watch. The soundtrack kept distracting me, however. First, there was the slowest version of the Navy hymn (Eternal Father, Strong to Save) that I’ve ever heard. This solemn song just thudded along. The rest of the music sounded like it had lifted from either “Star Wars” or “Pirates of the Caribbean”. It was just weird and became increasingly distracting. Too bad. A better soundtrack might actually have helped the movie a lot.
Why I Liked It – A tense thriller that takes a shot at a nuanced ending.
Why You Will Like It – Hackman and Washington keep the tension at a boil.
Rating – *** 1/2 Very Good Movie
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