Crimson Tide

Tense little action thriller on par with "The Hunt for Red October" has a nuclear submarine commander (Gene Hackman) and his new second-in-command (Denzel Washington) getting in a chess match of words and wits ala "Mutiny on the Bounty". Russian rebels may be about to launch nuclear missiles at any moment. Commands come through for Hackman to detonate the weapons from their ship, but then another message after that one which is incomplete splits the entire crew. Hackman thinks it is time to take control with aggression while Washington believes that this is way too important without knowing everything there is to know. A wide range of characters on the submarine (which includes Viggo Mortensen, Steve Zahn, James Gandolfini, Rick Schroeder, George Dzundza) must decide which of the all-world performers they are going to side with. The screenplay is mediocre really, but Hackman and Washington know how to overcome that and director Tony Scott keeps the pulse of his audience in high over-drive. Definitely an acceptable piece from the genre. 4 stars out of 5.

Enjoyable, good tension, good dilemma, good cast. But:

You have a movie like this where either Washington's or Hackman's character side could be right about their course of action. The aim of the movie, ostensibly, is to present both sides and let the viewer figure out which is the correct course.

But you can't possibly side with Hackman, can you?

After all, his character goes nuts when everything starts happening. His character is possibly racist. And his character is prepared to launch nukes. Washington's character is, quite nobly, none of those things.

Ho hum. Hollywood audience manipulation at its finest.

Would it kill these writers and producers to present a dilemma movie in an intelligent fashion for once? I'd like to struggle with "who's right and who's wrong?" just once in my moviegoing life.

As CRIMSON TIDE opens we visit various crew members of the USS Alabama as they bid farewell to their loved ones. For one man, Lt. Cmdr. Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington), it will be his first time as second in command of a nuclear submarine. Capt. Frank Ramesy (Gene Hackman) is in charge and is not shy about letting everyone know. He is a seasoned veteran, as juxtaposed with the young idealistic Hunter. The early scenes do much to set up the main conflict of the film. For example when members of the crew discuss Carl Von Clausewitz, and his 1832 work Vom Kriege ("On War"), the intellectual showdown occurs between Ramesy and Hunter. This scene not only heightens the tension, but also reveals the different philosophies of these two men, what they believe in, why they are there. This short scene goes a long way to setting up why each of these characters are so unbending when the crisis presents itself.

The Crisis: The ship has been damaged and the EAM contact that has been received is disjointed. The Russian force (who is never very carefully explained) is fueling rockets for use against the US. That's all they know. The captain wants to surface and fire, Hunter thinks he's wrong. Factions form, but the film does a good job presenting a good argument for both desicions (although you get the sense that the film makers lean towards the "dove" side rather than the "hawks"). As tensions mount, there are various shifts in power and the crew stands divided. Every member of the crew watching as the minutes tick by, closer and closer to the final moment of truth...

Hackman is at the top of his form here as the relentlessly tough Ramesy. When given a good script with room to work, there is few better at creating a solid performance. The looks he gives, the way he uses his eyes, his speech patterns, simply wonderful to watch. Washington is just as good as Hunter, and the showdown between these two men, near the end, sends sparks flying off the screen. The rest of the cast is filled out with strong actors: Matt Craven, George Dzundza, (pre LOTR's) Viggo Mortensen, and (pre 'Sopranos') James Gandolfini.

As is well known, the script received various rewrites from Robert Towne (the Clausewitz scene), Steve Zaillian, and Quentin Tarantino (the Silver Surfer references, the scene where the crew chimes in about other submarine movies). All these different contributions blends fairly well together. The story is tough and direct, and touches on points that heighten the tension. The photography, by Dariusz Wolski (DARK CITY, THE CROW), is tight and atmospheric; Hans Zimmer's score pounding and reflective. The VIP vote, however, goes to Tony Scott, who proves himself with this film. He knows when to hold shots and doesn't rush the action (as he did with TOP GUN); he paces the film well and let's his actors work for him. CRIMSON TIDE is an entertaining and challenging film that, along with films like THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER and DAS BOOT, may set the high water mark (forgive the pun) for the genre. 9/10.

Going into this run of Tony Scott films, I wanted Crimson Tide to be my favorite. I don't really know why beyond a certain affection for submarine movies in general. I'd seen it once before, remembered little about it, but felt like it could be the Tony Scott film that I got the most out of. Well, I did enjoy the film. It's slick and fun and tense, but it's also kind of inherently silly in a way that undermines it at key points all while it's pretty obvious that Don Simpson was looking at this as a way to legitimize himself after he'd been knocked back with the less than stellar box office returns of Days of Thunder. It's a weighty thriller unmade at its highest ambitions by the fact that it just doesn't quite feel real. Still, fun as it plays out.

Russia is going through turmoil as a separatist leader is leading an insurgency against the sitting federal government, rekindling the hot potential of war with the United States from the Cold War. In the middle of this is the US submarine, the Alabama, captained by Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman), an old seadog who has actually seen combat. Into his family of a crew he invites a new Executive Officer, Lt. Commander Hunter (Denzel Washington), after his previous XO is sidelined with appendicitis. It's obvious from the start that the two will butt heads, Ramsey dismissively noting Hunter's year at Harvard, a divide that becomes apparent in an early conversation on ship about the use of nuclear weapons in WWII.

You see, this conversation is kind of ground zero for why I can't actually take this film seriously. There's a talk about how there is a debate about the use of nuclear weapons to end WWII, but the talk is razor-thin and never actually goes into the pros or cons of the use in that specific case. It's just sitting there as this gauzy cautionary tale, with no specifics, about how the use of nuclear weapons can be world-ending. It's like it was written by someone who knows that there is a debate about the use of nuclear weapons but can't remember what either side actually says. In a film that's nominally about the use of nuclear weapons and the moral weight that such a decision carries, it's an odd way to try and ground your tale with a moral foundation.

But, it's obvious that Scott and his writer, Michael Schiffer, are mostly just interested in the situation as a great way to set up the pressure cooker that is dozens of men trapped in a metal tube in the middle of the ocean with death pressing up against the hull in every direction. Patrolling waters near the Eastern edges of Russia, namely a point near the Chinese and North Korean borders where a dispute over Russian nuclear silos is heating up, the Alabama, gets into conflict with a Russian sub that leaves its radio broken having received on message telling it to launch its ICBMs at the silos while a second message had been cut off in the middle of transmission that could say anything.

So, this is the source of the conflict. New XO and established Captain get into a head butting match about whether to follow the first order or to try and reestablish contact with their command to see what the second order is. On the surface, this is a great source of tension that drives everything, and what might be the film's saving grace is Tony Scott's slick, propulsive style that keeps things moving with new events (two sub attacks) along with the quality performances from everyone involved, most notably our two leads. However, it's ultimately kind of silly, especially considering the ticking clock, which takes what would be this great conflict of personalities like Run Silent, Run Deep, and instead leaves it as a facile piece of drama. I don't mind the facile drama on display. It's fun, but it's still facile.

You see, the problem is how the ticking clock works out. They have sixty minutes until the Russian separatists supposedly launch, but they're launch capable more than twenty minutes before that. Even if there is this conflict between the orders, why does Ramsey act like there's no way to wait a few minutes while the radio is being fixed until the last possible moment? It's obvious, from Hackman's performance, that he takes the idea of launching nuclear weapons as to be something of great weight and responsibility, but his actions are so gung-ho on the other hand. It's a contrast that the film doesn't seem to understand is there, especially late in the film when Ramsey does exactly that, making all of the dramatics of the previous forty minutes or so feel pointless.

However, as I said, those dramatics are fun. They're just thin. Ramsey desperately wants to follow the first order, so when Hunter declines, he tries to have Hunter removed. Hunter uses that as an excuse to remove Ramsey from his command. There's the second appearance of the enemy sub, torpedoes exchanged, pressure on the hull, a mutiny to the supposed mutiny as the officers split their loyalties. It really is helped by the fact that it's all cut so fast together while the actors give it their all (Scott really was good at getting performances from his actors).

And yet, I just wanted more. I wanted these professional sailors to act more professional, to find the tension through adults facing a terrible situation in the limits of their own experience. However, the film trends more towards irrational shouting from people who don't really feel like they belong in command at all. I mean, when Ramsey points a gun at Lieutenant Ince's (Viggo Mortenson) head, it's just too far, you know?

So, it's fun, but its one foot in realism betrays the rest of the film which isn't terribly realistic. I have a real soft-spot for submarine movies, pressure cookers for drama, and this does deliver that all on the backs of two high quality actors while the director speeds through everything in his own high-octane style. It's a good time at the movies, but it's just no The Hunt for Red October.

This is the type of movie Tony Scott should have stuck to creating. While most Jerry Bruckheimer films prove to be bad, modern interpretations of old school martial arts movies, this was one of the better films Bruckheimer ever produced. While the story was completely plot-driven and the performances a little over the top, the rivalry between Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman made this film a cut above the rest of the trash Bruckheimer tends to produce. While simple and direct, it proves to be effective in the annals of storytelling, never overindulging the viewer.