HUNTER KILLER (2018) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

hunter killer (2018) movie

Genre              |   Action Thriller

Classification   |   MA 15+

Running time   |   121 minutes

Released         |   1 November 2018

cast

Gerard Butler ... Captain Joe Glass
Gary Oldman ... CJCS Charles Donnegan
Toby Stephens ... Bill Beaman
Common ... RA John Fisk
Michael Nyqvist ... Captain Andropov
Carter MacIntyre ... XO Brian Edwards
Michael Trucco ... Devin Hall
Alexander Diachenko ... President Zakarin
​Michael Gor ... Admiral Dmitri Durov
​Linda Cardellini ... Jayne Norquist

director

Donovan Marsh

writer

​Arne Schmidt ... (screenplay by) (as Arne L. Schmidt) and
Jamie Moss ... (screenplay by)
 
George Wallace ... (based on the novel "Firing Point" written by) and
Don Keith ... (based on the novel "Firing Point" written by)

cinematographer

​​Tom Marais

music

​Trevor Morris

film editor

​Michael J. Duthie

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box office result

Worldwide               $? million

Australia                 $? million

North America        $? million

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the best dialogue

Captain Joe Glass: I know you speak English
[first lines]
Captain Andropov: Fuck You
Captain Joe Glass: [dryly] Well... that's a start

​XO Brian Edwards: Did we just start a war?
Captain Joe Glass: No... but we might've sailed into one

CJCS Charles Donnegan: [to Fisk] You didn't just start a war... you just lost one

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HUNTER KILLER (2018) MOVIE IMAGES

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HUNTER KILLER (2018) STORY SYNOPSIS

​American submarine Captain Joe Glass is on the hunt for a U.S. sub in distress in the Arctic Ocean. He soon learns that a secret Russian coup is in the offing, a conspiracy that threatens to dismantle the world order. With crew and country on the line, Glass must assemble an elite group of Navy SEALs to sneak through enemy waters, rescue the kidnapped Russian president and prevent World War III.

HUNTER KILLER (2018) MOVIE REVIEW

 Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 31 October 2018
Pop ​Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐

HUNTER KILLER is like a dinosaur from the JURASSIC PARK franchise...

It’s been created in a secret laboratory from  the long-lost life force of a 1980s Action film, but, because of some gaps in the DNA, the cinematic chemists have had to substitute some of their story matter with softer, more politically correct characters, easy-to-digest plot points and a cast of quality actors all performing well below their talent peak. That being said, HUNTER KILLER is the type of film that Jerry Bruckheimer, the late Don Simpson or Joel Silver would all be proud to have had their names attached back in the heyday of Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Gibson or Willis!

However, the times they are a changin’...

Those who have fled to the refuge of the EXPENDABLES franchise are seldom seen in the vicinity of a Big Budget Action film that doesn’t offer safety in numbers.

Perhaps only Jason Statham can hold his head high and claim to have at least tried to keep the Action flame burning.

However, with the cryptic knowing of Yoda, HUNTER KILLER confirms “there is another”...

GERARD JAMES BUTLER.

Once again, the Scotsman, who, even when clean shaven, looks like he’s been formed from a slab of granite, takes the mantle and does the heavy lifting for an entire genre. This time he’s Captain James Glass, a tough-as-they-come submariner whose adult life has been dedicated to creeping along the ocean floor on behalf of the great United States Navy.

Having established Glass as the main man, Director Donovan Marsh wastes no time in getting stuck into this adaptation of the George Wallace and Don Keith novel “Firing Point”. Wallace has built a career out of turning his own Naval career knowledge, especially his experience as a submarine Captain, into high tension page turners that aspire to the lowest common denominator of entertainment.

Reworked for the screen by writers Arne Schmidt and Don Keith, HUNTER KILLER takes the novel’s plot and turns it into an entertaining two hour adventure with nods to all the great submarine end-of-civilisation-as-we-know-it movies including DAS BOOT, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER and CRIMSON TIDE plus a dash of ICE STATION ZEBRA and THE ENEMY BELOW for good measure. There’s also significant land-based action sequences, with Toby Stephens (most recently seen headlining the excellent Netflix produced reimagination of LOST IN SPACE) leading a small team of commandos on a mission into the heart of a Russian military base.

Stephens delivers the film’s strongest performance as the selfless leader who doesn’t hesitate to place his own life in danger to save both his men and give the world a fighting chance for peace.

Once upon a time, Toby Stephens played Bond villain Gustav Graves in DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002) and he seemed just a little too posh for his own good. There was a kind of smirking arrogance about Graves that was entirely appropriate, but also made Stephens seem like the worst kind of ham actor going around.

Fortunately for audiences, over the last sixteen years, he’s managed to free himself from the shackles of such a high profile role so early in his career and has built a reputation as an accomplished character actor. Finally, he’s starting to win larger parts and receive recognition with each successive role he plays. Irrespective of how the rest of this film is regarded, his turn as Bill Beaman in HUNTER KILLER will help to lift Stephens’ profile, quite deservedly,  even higher.

It would be remiss not to mention Michael Nyquist’s performance as Andropov, the Russian submarine Captain who is rescued by Butler’s Captain Joe Glass and his crew.

One of the two dedication’s made in the closing credits of HUNTER KILLER is to Nyquist, who sadly, passed away in June 2017 from lung cancer.

There’s no doubt he looks like a very unwell man in HUNTER KILLER. His performance is very subdued, but there’s still a quiet dignity underpinning his character.

That’s perhaps one of the greatest things about watching Nyquist’s acting; whether it was in film or television, his best work always drew upon his ability to underplay and force the viewer to give their undivided attention to him for fear that they may miss a vital line of dialogue crucial to the story. Very few actors have the ability to keep playing it so low, but Nyquist was a master at it and, at just fifty-six years of age, it feels as though the world had been robbed of a great performance talent.

HUNTER KILLER and the upcoming Terence Malik film RADEGUND, about World War II conscientious objector Franz Jaggerstatter, allow audiences the privilege to watch this great actor for a final time.

It may have once seemed like a novelty to have Rapper Common pop up in a movie or television show, but not so anymore.

The truth of it is, he’s really good.

In HUNTER KILLER, he plays Rear Admiral John Fisk.

Hard to believe?

At first, yes. By the end of the movie, no.

Common shares most of his scenes with Linda Cardellini (who plays National Security Agency operative Jayne Norquist) and Gary Oldman (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff  Charles Donnegan). His work with Cardellini is excellent and the pair develop a genuine on-screen rapport in a limited number of scenes that add depth to the story and confirm Common’s no longer a novelty act.

Gary Oldman’s performance is another matter…

There’s no doubt, Gary Oldman is a great actor. When he’s on point, he’s the by far the best character actor currently working in films.

Unfortunately, in HUNTER KILLER, he’s nowhere near close to point. He’s not even on the peninsula…

It’s difficult to work out whether Oldman’s performance was by design or just happened and Donovan Marsh was simply unwilling or unable to rein him in. For those who’ve seen the British thespian interviewed, he’s no shrinking violet. He has very definite opinions about a whole range of topics that don’t come anywhere close to being considered politically correct.

This is to be admired... The world needs free thinkers.

A movie set, however, isn’t necessarily the best place to go off message, but Gary Oldman does so with some relish in HUNTER KILLER...

As if in response to the British actor’s over-the-top performance, everyone else goes a little slower and lower throughout the film. No one’s going to win an Oscar for their work in this film, but there seems to be a consensus that the story needs a level of realism in the performances to help sell the utterly preposterous plot.

Oldman is the exception.

He goes as BIG as he can, as often as he can, barking orders and chewing scenery as the likes of Common and Cardellini work around him to deliver something that is a little more measured.

It’s not very often that Gary Oldman gets it so wrong, but his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff seems more suited to Stanley Kubrick’s DR. STRANGELOVE (1964) than this film.

So, what of Gerard Butler?

DEN OF THIEVES (2018) released earlier this year reminded viewers that Butler can deliver genuine drama when the role calls for it. HUNTER KILLER proves that he can also headline a big budget action film that features him doing more than just shooting bad guys for ninety plus minutes.

All the usual Butler traits are present in his character, Captain Joe Glass.

The gravel voice. The blue collar upbringing. The tragedy that’s shaped his character.

These are all trademarks of the roles that Butler relishes in.

However, HUNTER KILLER makes Butler’s Glass work for his victory in a way that other recent roles haven’t. There’s a conviction in Butler’s performance that makes Joe Glass more authentic than the likes of Mike Banning from OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN (2013) and LONDON HAS FALLEN (2016). The writers aren’t afraid to put Glass into multiple situations where his judgement is called into question and Butler has to deliver his dialogue and reactions in a manner that convinces both his crew and the viewer that he’s made the right decision.

Action heroes tend to get an easy ride. Most of the time, no one questions what they’re doing. Bystanders are just happy that someone is doing something. Not so with Joe Glass. His whole crew are looking at him for the majority of the film like they’re about to mutiny. He has to work hard to prove his judgement is as good as his skill as a submariner. It’s one thing to know how to operate the ship; it’s another thing to know how to lead its crew.

Joe Glass is not an easy character, but Butler shows that he’s the capability and delivers one of his more measured performances, helping to make HUNTER KILLER a better-than-expected film.

The Verdict

Given the effort to deliver a film that has a degree of credibility, HUNTER KILLER remains a fast-paced, plot driven Action Thriller.

The story jumps between the confines of submarines, the unfolding political events at the Polyarny Naval Base in Russia and the around-the-clock surveillance by the US military in Washington. It moves between these settings, dwelling for as long as it needs to in order to give the viewer the information they need to help propel the plot to its finale.

It’s not a balls-to-the-wall Action blockbuster, but, that’s not a bad thing.

Donovan March has made an effort to deliver a film that is both entertaining and has some depth of character. It succeeds more than it fails and, if the story eschewed the the genre tropes it falls back upon in the finale, HUNTER KILLER could have resonated in a more meaningful fashion.

Like 2017’s AMERICAN ASSASSIN, HUNTER KILLER stumbles at the final hurdle, as the previous one hundred minutes give way to absurdity. Unfortunately, this has been the pattern of the genre for the last thirty-five years.

Who knows when the genre turned the corner and morphed into a vehicle that required the viewer to check their brain at the box office.

Perhaps the day Sylvester Stallone, Ted Kotcheff and the producers of FIRST BLOOD (1982) decided to keep John Rambo alive for another tour of duty was the day the genre changed course. The door was left ajar, letting the likes of Jean Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris to fill out the playing roster and, in the process, headline some of the most turgid films to ever play a cinema.

In spite of its ending, at least HUNTER KILLER makes the effort to aspire to be something more than just a throw-away Acton movie. Now all that’s needed is a few good men to give Gerard and Jason a bit of hand other than the recycled septuagenarian set!

HUNTER KILLER (2018) USEFUL LINKS

Hunter Killer (film) - Wikipedia
​Hunter Killer (2018) - IMDb
​Hunter Killer (2018) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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