Hunter Killer: Movie Review
The latest action vehicle starring Gerard Butler, “Hunter Killer” is based on Don Keith’s 2012 novel, “Firing Point”. I didn’t have high expectations going in because Butler’s track record in this genre is not inspiring. Sure the “Olympus and London Has Fallen” films made money, but they are not much better then your average DTV action flick. “Geostorm” as all kinds of stupid, but still managed to entertain. With “Hunter Killer” we basically have a knock-off of much better submarine films like “The Hunt for Red October” and “Crimson Tide”, yet it still manages to not completely suck.
When the US loses contact with an American submarine that was shadowing a Russian submarine, Commander Joe Glass (Butler) is sent in to investigate. It turns out the American sub was destroyed, and the Russian sub was also sunk, but there were survivors. One of the three Russian survivors is Captain Sergei Andropov (Michael Nyqvist).
Meanwhile, a Navy SEAL team is sent to observe a Russian marine base, but the last thing they expected to find was a coo in progress. It turns out that Admiral Dmitri Durov (Michael Gor) has taken the Russian President (Alexander Diachenko) hostage and plans to start a war. He is also responsible for taking down the subs earlier in the film. Much to the disapproval of CJCS Charles Donnegan (Gary Oldman), RA John Fisk (Common) orders the SEAL team to rescue the Russian President in hopes to prevent a massive war.
I can’t recommend “Hunter Killer” as it offers very little of anything fresh or original. Oldman is basically cashing a paycheck here and Common seems to be just walking through his performance. Butler is fine, I guess, but the material feels like nothing more than an extended episode of “The Last Ship”. The only thing that makes “Hunter Killer” even remotely watchable are some of the tension-filled submarine scenes. Even with sub-par CGI, the navigation through a Russian mine field is handled quite well and kept me on the edge of my seat. There are a few moments like that here, but not much else.
By: Marc Ferman
