Customer Reviews

Crimson Tide

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman are two of my favorite actors and also two of the finest players acting and creating films today. Mr. Washington is making his directing debut with, "Antwone Fisher", and there is Oscar talk all around the film. It should make it to most markets within about one week of my writing this. Mr. Washington also joined a group that is far, far too small, when as a black/African American (I do not know which he prefers) he took home the Oscar for Best Actor one year ago for, "Training Day".

Mr. Washington said no to this film until they told him Gene Hackman would be playing the captain. In the piece I saw, he said he only needed to know this fact, for the opportunity to work with a man who is already a legend in film, whether he makes another film or not, was all the inducement he needed. It's nice to know a paycheck is not all that drives some performers.

The film is outstanding as an action film, but I found it easy to understand why the US Navy would not participate. The scenes of diving subs were stock footage, there were not performed by the Navy for this film. The film is so good because of the primary actors already mentioned a script that was worked on by Quentin Tarantino, like the Star Trek banter, and The Silver Surfer debate, and also for a variety of faces that have become much better known since this film was made.

The variations of mutinies that played out against other famous actors on the sea as opposed to below it will come to mind, Anthony Hopkins in the days of sail, and Humphrey Bogart on WWII vintage ships. The stakes this time are much higher and the directions the mutinies take are far more troublesome.

Being faced with the order to actually launch a thermonuclear strike is a scenario that can easily justify a range of behaviors amongst the men involved, in this case on a submarine. And this is where the fifth star fell away for me. I certainly could understand the dynamic and the violation of a legal order that could cause the invocation of Naval Law. What I could not take seriously was the ease with which men who were serving with one another were willing to engage in deadly conduct against these same men, and to switch sides with such ease. If loyalty was so easily changed on a nuclear submarine, if so many top officers would violate Naval Law with such ease, I would guess horrific accidents would have occurred many years ago, and with disastrous results. The men that serve, and especially command, on submarines equipped with thermonuclear warheads are required to pass entirely different and additional levels of tests, that those who serve on submarines without such missiles.

Sure this is only a film, so it should be viewed as entertainment. It also portrayed an event that could happen, events that have been nearly breached in our history, and it does so by portraying the officers and other men serving on this fictional boat in a very poor light. It is again completely understandable why the US Navy said no to the film. The whole film had an odd start and finish, when the reporter was reporting from a French Carrier and not a US one.

i really liked this movie.i'm not really fond of Tony Scott's directing style.at least his last few films.but Scott is fairly restrained for this 1995 film.the film is basically set during a time when political tension is high and the threat of World war Three is imminent.the bulk of the story centres on a U.S sub which has been called into duty to possibly deal with the threat.the captain of the sub(Gene Hackman) and his second in command(Denzel Washington)butt heads about how to respond to the threat.it comes down to a war of wills between the two,with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.there is more two this story detailing the reason they are at odds,but i won't give that away.lets just say,that this movie is a potboiler of tension and and when you have two actors as charismatic as the two leads,you can't help but be riveted.complicating matters of course,is that the men on the ship choose sides.for sheer intensity,it's hard to beat this movie.if you liked The Hunt For Red October and U571,you will probably enjoy this movie and vice versa.i'd recommend it highly for fans of the genre.

Superior performances by Denzel and Gene. Good supporting performances by Tony Soprano and Gandalf. Great tension. Perfect Tarantino dialogue. Lots of nice realistic touches. Aren't that many good sub movies out there. Only a handful come to mind. Definately worth repeated viewing.

I didn't think it was possible for there to exist a badly-made submarine movie, but I watched this and realized I was wrong. If you know anything about submarines, you'll not like this film very much. Examples? Ok, how about this: The boat (sub's are referred to as "boats" not "ships") is crippled by a torpedo explosion, and the Chief of the Boat announces to the XO (Denzel Washington),"forward ballast tanks damaged. we've lost forward air". The next moment, the boat's main propulsion plant is lost, and the sub is shown heading downward into the depths. Do they move the bow planes / fairwater planes or stern planes to use forward momentum to help the boat rise? NO. Do they blow after ballast (the after ballast tanks are presumably still operational)? NO. What do they do? They just ALL STAND THERE staring at the depth gauge, awaiting their arrival at "crush depth", the depth at which the surrounding pressure of the sea will be more than the pressure hull can withstand and the sub will implode and kill them all. But what saves them? Ah, someone in the Engine Room apparently flicks a switch to start the turbines again! "well, whaddya know, I've started the plant again!" Look, if you suffer an engineering casualty that causes the plant to be lost, chances are you're not going to be able to repair the cause in 5 minutes. Add to this the flimsy character development, the "musical chairs" Caine Mutiny - meets - Keystone Kops command changes, the contrived 'drama' - it's just not believable, folks.
So what to do? I recommend you rent, buy, or borrow "Das Boot" (or its very-well-dubbed version "The Boat"), come home and watch it. Immerse yourself in a real submarine drama. And deep-six this artificial-reef of a movie.

This movie is an average action movie that rips of "The Hunt for Red October" down to the cover art style. I think that the whole "give me the missile key" bit is so intense that it's funny...but the movie's okay on the whole. I recommend "Red October" though.

It starts with rain pouring down all wrong - very dramatic but wrong. (Too much rain in front of camera, not enough three feet back; falling at wrong angle; obvious to anyone from the coast.)

Then there's the kitchen fire. Riiiight. No automatic extinguishers above the cooking surfaces. Cooks don't know how to extinguish a grease fire. What, they are cooking with materials that are so flammable even their fire extinguishers can't deal with the results? In a submarine???

Don't get me going on the conflict between the good intelligent good looking black guy and the redneck ignorant white captain. Both Washington and Hackman play steretypical roles. Just exchange Denzel Washington for Christopher Reeve and add that dumb blond and the Park Avenue address and - voila! - you have the same role with a different costume played in the same predictable way by Hackman.

If this is symbolic what the characters of American nuclear submarine seamen are like, the world is doomed.

Perfect for all you guys who have never been in any kind of real war.

This movie is unbelievable, the suspense is so thick that it can be cut with a chainsaw. Denzel Washington versus Gene Hackman the chemistry is mesmerising!!! Yes the potential for WWIII is going on in the world outside of the sub. But it has already started in the U.S.S. Alabama. Washington is at his usual subtle but yet tense approach, he doesn't have to use profanity to show the power of his acting and make his point. Hackman on the other hand is intense using a very very well presented profanity ladened [lecturing]of Washington's character on several occasions through the movie. It is almost too perfect. There is some action, but it is not an action movie, suspense is the key. You don't know anything until the last ten minutes of or so of the movie. From the time Hackman says "Then shut up" it is a struggle to the finish. I have not yet seen The Hunt For Red October, so I cannot compare. I've heard it is better, I'm not sure. In my mind this is upper-echellon of the sub movie genre. Other great ones are U-571 and Run Silent, Run Deep, Das Boot among others. Crimson Tide should beat em all though!!!

Where is the special edition? why is it taking so long for it? It is already on the european market. please release it soon this is one of the best submarine warfare movies of all time.

I thought the start of the movie was quite good. Seemed like quite a decent plot. Then it just got silly.

Surprisingly the most worrying thing about this movie comes at the end when it tells us that from 1996 onwards the key to launching Nuclear weapons no longer resides with the Commander of a U.S. nuclear submarine but with the President of the United States. Given that Bush is in power that should be enough to scare the living Jesus out of anyone and maybe the Hackman's of the world should be given back the responsibility as long there is a Washington beside him who is ready to turn around say "King Kong ain't got nothin' on me!"

Not since John Carpenter's "The Thing" has there been a damn fine movie about paranoia and tension. Crimson Tide does all that in aces and then some more. Basically the premise is about a Commander and an XO of a nuclear submarine that are given orders to set sail and be prepared for EAMs (Emergency Action Messages) that will tell them if and when they should launch the Big One. One action message tells them to launch. The second is scrambled beyond all recognition. This leads to a standoff between the Commander and the XO and a crew split over whose orders they should follow.

So basically it is high-octane ping pong as the two commanders go back and forth, debating what they should do, putting guns to each others head, dodging torpedoes and generally trying to toe the official navy line while at the same time breaking all the rules in the book. The script is good except for some inappropriate references to Star Trek but all the actors do a good job with the roles they are given and Hackman performs to the point where we remember again why he is A-list material. Washington is on form and makes a good piece of opposition, but can not prevent the Hack from walking circles around him. Today however it is the opposite way around which shows how talent is something that may not be perpetual.

You can not go too far wrong with this one. Sure it is all USA! USA! with lots of melodrama and crew members patting each other's backs right up until the "all is forgiven" finale but then again we can give the movie its token gestures for coming up with a simple idea done exceptionally well. This is not "Das Boot" but it transcends "U-751" and "The Sum of All Fears" and also gives us much more edge of your seat stuff than "The Hunt from Red October".

It's all good whatever way you cook it and certainly ownership of DVD Hackman powerhouse performing is nothing to be ashamed about.