3.5 stars. Rated R, for violence and profanity
By Derrick Bang
Boy, this one takes me back.
Director Donovan Marsh’s handsomely mounted adaptation of 2012’s Firing Point is a suspenseful, well-paced thriller. The George Wallace/Don Keith novel is, itself, a throwback to Alistair MacLean classics such as The Guns of Navarone and Ice Station Zebra, both of which also became crackling adventure films.
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| U.S. submarine commander Joe Glass (Gerard Butler, right) and his counterpart, Russian commander Andropov (Michael Nyqvist) contemplate how best to handle an international crisis that is escalating rapidly out of control. |
The comparison to Ice Station Zebra is particularly apt, because Hunter Killer unfolds like a 1960s Cold War thriller, complete with U.S./Russian anxiety, posturing politicians, ground-level grunts given an impossible mission, and a maverick submarine commander willing to defy D.C. in order to avoid World War III.
Ah, the good ol’ days.
This new film also unfolds like a mystery, if only initially. The story begins deep beneath Arctic Circle ice, as a U.S. “hunter-killer” submarine clandestinely shadows a Russian sub: one side keeping tabs on the other. Suddenly the Russian vessel explodes, to the astonishment of the Americans; before they can consider whether to mount a rescue, they’re also crippled and sent to the ocean floor.
By whom, we wonder.
Back at the Pentagon, anxiety mounts when the American sub fails to make its scheduled report. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Charles Donnegan (Gary Oldman), a veteran hawk always willing to believe the worst of the Russians, wants to mobilize nearby battleships and destroyers. Rear Admiral John Fisk (Common), a next-gen negotiator loathe to jump to conclusions, seeks alternative solutions.
U.S. President Dover (Caroline Goodall, standing in for Hilary Clinton), considering all options, authorizes investigative reconnaissance by the USS Arkansas: a second hunter-killer sub, to be commanded by Joe Glass (Gerard Butler). He’s an unusual choice: a blue-collar “guy’s guy” who gained his knowledge of submarines the practical way, by working his way up through various departments, in marked contrast to Annapolis graduates with no hands-on experience.
In other words, Glass is savvier — and sneakier — than all those Pentagon desk jockeys.
Meanwhile…
Long-range satellites have revealed unusual activity at the Polyarny Russian naval base, at the outermost western side of Kola Bay. Senior National Security Agency analyst Jayne Norquist (Linda Cardellini), sent to the Pentagon with need-to-know details, advises that Russian President Zakarin (Alexander Diachenko) has just arrived at Polyarny for unknown reasons.
In order to obtain better intel — quickly — a four-man Navy SEAL team is air-dropped just outside the base, with the goal of setting up high-tech surveillance equipment. This team is led by Lt. Bill Beaman (Toby Stephens), who worries that junior member Paul Martinelli (Zane Holtz) may not be up to snuff. They get close enough to the Russian naval base to supply D.C. with close-range audio and video.
At which point, it becomes clear that things are very wrong at Polyarny, and that Donnegan’s fears are entirely justified.
How things shake out, from this point forward, proves both tense and exciting.
Submarine-based action sequences have a limited range; it’s all diving, lots of shouting, evasive maneuvers and — in this case — nifty torpedo-deflecting gadgets. Still, Marsh and editor Michael J. Duthie deftly maintain a taut atmosphere, cleverly cross-cutting between Glass and his sub; Beaman and his fellow SEALs, outrageously outmanned at Polyarny; and also the activities of the young Arkansas crewmen in charge of the tiny, two-man salvage/rescue pod attached to the sub’s hull.
(I suspect such a bulbous exterior fixture would severely impede a submarine’s maneuverability, but hey: It’s a movie.)
The Scottish-born Butler has, of late, carved himself a respectable niche as a rugged action hero … although he tends to be far better than some of his recent films. (The notoriously dreadful London Has Fallen and Geostorm top that list.) Given that he has been established as a resourceful, capably rugged man of action, it’s refreshing to see him equally persuasive here in such an internal role, where success lies in out-thinking the enemy.
Stephens, in turn, is excellent as the hard-charging Beaman: a role that allows the actor to exercise his acting chops far better than with his portrayal of the somnambulant John Robinson, in TV’s unsatisfying revival of Lost in Space. Cardellini is okay as the spunky Norquist, although one gets a sense that her character isn’t quite ready for the grueling tension of the Pentagon war room.
Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist is nicely understated — in a narrative laden with highly strung types — as Russian sub commander Andropov: sadly, one of this excellent actor’s final roles, as he died in June 2017. Michael Gor makes Russian Admiral Dmitri Durov an intriguing mystery, and Igor Jijikine — well remembered for his similar role in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull — is appropriately vicious as an unstoppable Russian baddie.
Common is rock-solid as the spit-and-polish Fisk, the calmly cool yin to the overly excitable yang of Oldman’s Donnegan.
Did I say excitable? I spent the entire film not quite willing to believe that it was Oldman, playing this obviously unbalanced, foaming-at-the-mouth imbecile. Gary Oldman? The accomplished talent who just won an Academy Award for Darkest Hour? That Gary Oldman? Seriously? Marsh clearly wasn’t able to keep Oldman in check; it’s sad to watch such a seasoned performer virtually destroy a role through overacting.
He’s not alone. Carter MacIntyre’s performance as Glass’ XO, Brian Edwards, is equally over-the-top ludicrous. He’s this story’s token second-guesser: the guy who heatedly questions Glass’ actions and orders way beyond the point of insubordination. An actual military commander wouldn’t merely have confined such an impediment to the brig; Edwards would have been ejected via a torpedo tube. Without SCUBA gear.
Whether Oldman and MacIntyre’s hijinks sabotage this film will be up to individual viewers; the saving grace is that neither actor gets much screen time. The bulk of the film concentrates on nail-biting activities depicted far better by everybody else, with flashes of memorably quieter drama also turning up at unexpected moments. I particularly like the significance of the coin that Butler’s Glass keeps close.
The production design is sensational — Jon Henson and James H. Spencer, take a bow — with the fascinating structures of Bulgaria’s naval base in Varna, on the Black Sea coast, standing in for Polyarny. The Arkansas interior, carefully modeled after the inner workings of an actual Virginia Class nuclear submarine, is just as visually fascinating.
Trevor Morris’ orchestral score adds plenty of atmospheric oomph, and Tom Marais’ cinematography deftly juxtaposes the Arkansas’ claustrophobic interior with the wide open spaces of Polyarny and its surrounding forests.
Marsh’s uneven touch with actors notwithstanding, he orchestrates this massive thriller with a capable hand: a pleasant surprise, given his complete lack of experience with such big-budget projects.
Sadly, it appears as though Lionsgate is dumping Hunter Killer with very little publicity and even lower expectations. That’s a shame; the film deserves much better. In an era of overly loud, completely brain-dead action flicks, this one’s retro approach is a welcome return to old-school thrills.
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