Review: Hunter Killer
Another year, another bland and mediocre offering from Gerard Butler. One could be reasonably excused for the thought given that the majority of Butler's post-300 projects have been serviceable at best. So it is more than a mild surprise that the Scottish star's latest vehicle, Hunter Killer, is arguably one of his better efforts.
Based on the 2012 novel Firing Point by Don Keith and George Wallace, it's a solid derivative of films such as The Hunt for Red October and Crimson Tide. By no means perfect, and easily guilty of wasting some fine actors, it takes a while to get going but, once it does, all the seemingly unnecessary frippery coalesces into an exciting, gripping, and thoroughly satisfying affair.
Butler stars as Joe Glass, one of those rogue and radical military men who has been assigned to captain a U.S. submarine, the USS Arkansas, to investigate the recent and mysterious sinking of an American submarine and the Russian sub it was shadowing. It's a tricky situation as the Arkansas' presence and the potential need to defend itself may trigger another Cold War between the two superpowers. Adding to the geopolitical minefield is the discovery that the sinking of the Russian sub might be a case of sabotage and that the Russian president (Alexander Diachenko) has been taken prisoner by his power-hungry defence minister Durov (Mikhail Gorevoy), who has decided to stage a coup unaware that a group of U.S. black-op commandos led by Toby Stephens' Lieutenant Bill Beaman have witnessed the president's kidnapping, reported it back to Admiral Charles Donnegan (Gary Oldman), and have been assigned to rescue the president.
In truth, the parallel narrative of the Russian coup and the commandos' rescue operation is mostly distracting white noise, so generic are all their characters that they seem to have come from the dregs of central casting. However, for all their uselessness and trite dialogue, they greatly contribute to the final 45 minutes of the film, during which director Donovan Marsh stages a series of excellent sequences, beginning with the rescue of the Russian president and its ensuing shootout to the Arkansas being well and truly under siege. Those 45 minutes well and truly make the film; it's just too bad viewers have to slog through more than an hour of blustering hustle and bustle that inspires boredom rather an interest.
Hunter Killer
Directed by: Donovan Marsh
Written by: Arne Schmidt, Jamie Moss; based on the novel by Don Keith and George Wallace
Starring: Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, Common, Linda Cardellini, Toby Stephens, Zane Holtz, Caroline Goodall, Michael Nyqvist, Alexander Diachenko, Mikhail Gorevoy, Ilia Volok, David Gyasi, Michael Trucco
