Critic Pans Hunter Killer Movie

This image released by Lionsgate shows Gerard Butler in a scene from “Hunter Killer” (Jack English/Lionsgate via AP)

Still haven’t seen the movie, but it seems my prediction after viewing the trailer was pretty much correct- it’s an underwater Top Gun. If you recall, Top Gun was loud, flashy, fast paced, and completely filled with bullshit. It was so bad without meaning to be that folks who actually know something about aviation, would either look on in horror or point-and-laugh. It was critiqued by Ward Carroll, an actual F-14 RIO who was moved to pen 79-cringe-worthy-technical-errors-in-the-movie-top-gun.

But I digress. Lindsey Bahr, of The Associated Press has this to say about Hunter Killer:

There are so many good movies in theaters right now — thoughtful, artistic, well-acted and well-told movies that studios preciously save for this time of year with the distant hope of Oscar gold in their future. The Gerard Butler submarine movie “Hunter Killer ” is not one of those movies — it is bombastic and garish, ridden with clichés, preposterous politics and diplomacy, and frenetic, video game energy.

And it’s so often so unintentionally silly that it’s actually kind of a fun watch.

The film starts out confusingly. An American submarine is torpedoed by a Russian sub in Russian waters, but back in the U.S., all they know is it’s disappeared, and they’ve got to go find it. The man for the job, Rear Admiral John Fisk (Common) concludes, is Captain Joe Glass (Butler), who we’re told is not like the other guys. He “never went to Annapolis.” Why that makes him especially qualified for this mission will basically remain a mystery, other than the fact that he’ll readily disobey orders and go rogue at any opportunity. He’s seen stuff, guys, and not in a Naval Academy classroom.

We meet him in the middle of nowhere, in snowy terrain about to shoot a CGI buck across a glassy lake with a bow and arrow. But then he looks to the right of the buck and sees its CGI family close by and decides to lower his weapon. This moment lets the audience know a few things: a) That Joe Glass has empathy and b) that this movie has no subtlety. The next thing we know a military helicopter is swooping down to pick him up and take him to his sub.

Based on the book “Firing Point,” this is the first Hollywood film from South African director Donovan Marsh, and he does cook up some captivating action set pieces, like navigating a submarine through a fjord of mines, or even just an old fashioned, ridiculously over the top shootout, which may have you laughing, rolling your eyes or even cheering (as a fair amount of people were in my screening), but it’s never boring.

There’s more at The Navy Times if one can stand it. I’ll wait until it’s available on NetFlix to spectate in private, and I look forward to the comments from our resident
Bubbleheads.

Category: Media, YGBSM!!