Skip to main content

Hunter Killer | Average Guy Movie Review


When a US submarine goes missing under the Arctic, Commander Joe Glass (Gerard Butler) is ordered to lead the USS Arkansas to the last known location. Their mission is to locate the missing sub, rescue any survivors and investigate the cause of the disappearance. The only problem is, the incident may have got the US entangled in some serious Russian political turmoil. And in order to de-escalate the situation, the Arkansas and her crew will have to go where no American vessel has gone before.


Now it sounds like Gerard Butler has made another movie in which his very Scottishy sounding, uber patriotic American hero saves the day. Well you'd be kind of right for thinking that. But Butler actually tones down the gung-ho, OTT shit this time round. Both he and director Donovan Marsh spent a few days aboard the USS Houston in order to get a feel for life on a submarine. The result of which is a more authentic performance from Butler, he's more reserved than we're used to seeing him. He actually plays a very convincing sub captain. One facing the possibility that any action he takes could result in World War III.


Thanks to this high-stakes situation, the scenes that play out beneath the surface are not only the most enjoyable and exciting, they're also jarringly tense. The crew have an incredibly dangerous job to do, even without the threat of World War III. A threat made almost palpable thanks to some solid performances by those playing the crew of the Arkansas (plus a few guests) and some fairly decent special effects.


The problems with Hunter Killer it seems, reside on dry land. Everything that goes on within the Pentagon serves little or no purpose. Gary Oldman simply shouts a lot - almost like he was doing an Al Pacino impression the whole time. His character seems to be in a continual state of losing his shit, not very reassuring considering he's in charge of one of the largest military forces in the world. And Linda Cardellini's sole purpose seems to be to remind us that she works for the NSA. Only Common does anything of real importance, and he's still not given enough to do. Even the villains are nothing more than generic Russian bad guys, although the movie doesn't go so far as to portray all Russians that way.


Then there's the land operation involving the Seal team. This is the part that says "from the guys who brought you the Fast & Furious movies". Toby Stephens is good as the salty team leader (look, nautical) and the team have some entertaining banter. But apart from that, it's nothing but cliched, OTT action we'd expect from Fast and Furious. Once on the ground every move they make seems either foolish or unrealistic...sometimes even both. And it's for this reason that this part of the story doesn't fit with the rest of the movie. It's as if the part involving the Seal team was written and directed by someone else, someone with a very different approach and style.


Overall Hunter Killer is a fairly decent action movie, one that thankfully doesn't go over the top on the whole patriotism thing. I mean, imagine if Michael Bay got a hold of this! On second thoughts...don't do that. Rather than spreading the story across four narratives - one of which we could pretty much do without - I think the movie would have benefitted from focusing more on the goings on onboard the Arkansas. But some good performances, tense underwater scenes and fun action make for a fairly entertaining watch.

7/10


What did you think of Hunter Killer? Let us know by leaving a comment below or find us on Facebook and Twitter. You can also email us at moustachemovienews@gmail.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Suicide Squad | Average Guy Movie Review

A new batch of convicts - as well as a few originals - are under the thumb of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), who's once again offering years off their prison sentences in return for completing a few jobs for Uncle Sam. This time she's sending them to the island nation of Corto Maltese. There they must infiltrate the capital and destroy a top secret research facility. Sounds easy enough. Task Force X is back, and with James Gunn at the helm things are madder than ever! The Guardians of the Galaxy  director has taken what David Ayer started and blown the roof off of it. But he has done so in a way that is respectful of what has gone before. Fans of the original (of which there are apparently few) will have no trouble going from  Suicide Squad  to The Suicide Squad . And yet, the new movie stands quite happily on it's own two feet. Rather than making them drastically different, the returning characters simply feel like they have grown a bit. Well, maybe not grown, but adapted, t

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings | Average Guy Movie Review

For ten years Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) - the son of The Mandarin (Tony Leung), keeper of the Ten Rings - has been running from his past, trying to escape the life his father intended for him. Unfortunately that past has now caught up with him, endangering the lives of those he cares about. Now he must return home, face his father and learn the secrets of his family. If there's one thing that Marvel is good at, it's taking lesser known comic book characters and turning them into major players. Clearly they haven't lost their touch because Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings  is everything fans love about the MCU and so much more. Whilst keeping things very much rooted in this world, Destin Daniel Cretton has carved out a new piece of the epic film franchise - one steeped in asian culture and mythology - to bring us Marvel's first Asian superhero.  It seems insane to think that just a few years ago Simu Liu tweeted Marvel about Shang-Chi, and now he's playing the ne

Operation Market Garden Anniversary 2016

The John Frost Bridge at Arnhem (from my visit in 2013) 72 years ago today, Allied troops set off on what could be one of the boldest missions of World War 2, Operation Market Garden. Developed by Field Marshall Montgomery, the plan was to advance into Nazi occupied Holland and develop a bridgehead over the River Rhine into Germany. There were two parts to the operation: Market (Airborne) Garden (Ground Forces) In what was the largest airborne operation of the war, paratroopers and glider troops had the job of securing bridges at Eindhoven (US 101st Airborne), Nijmegen (US 82nd Airborne) and Arnhem (British 1st Airborne). The ground forces, made up of the British XXX Corp had to advance up a single highway through Holland, linking up with the airborne forces as they went. In honour of the anniversary of Operation Market Garden we look back at some of the movies and TV Shows that tell the story of the Allies ill-fated attempt to end the war by Christmas 1944. A Bridge Too Far