Crimson Tide (1995)

Genre: Action/Adventure

Starring: Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, Matt Craven, George Dzundza, Viggo Mortensen, James Gandolfini, Rocky Carroll

The United States and Russia have had a historical standoff and Hollywood movies have always made the Russians as their evil counterparts who are trying to destroy the world. Post the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union, a Russian revolutionist has taken control of Russian nuclear missiles and threatens to fire them if either the Russian or American government tries to confront him. A US submarine, USS Alabama has been ordered to remain on standby in the Pacific and in case of escalation, to fire a nuclear warhead at Russia. Captain Frank Ramsey (Hackman) is a Navy veteran and a staunch nationalist. His ideologies being that anyone who stands in front of America and denies the people their freedom, must be crushed. Lt. Commander Ron Hunter (Washington) is the designated Executive Officer of the submarine and has a different way of putting things. He believes that war itself is wrong and a peaceful compromise is always possible and the military is only in force in dire consequences. The consequences do get dire which results in a standoff between the Frank and Ron and what would be the best action to take given the circumstances. The movie is a fairly entertaining action movie that can help you easily kill some time. Yes it gets gripping at some moments and can get involving but in a complete nutshell it's not something that will be outright fabulous. Directed by Tony Scott, the usual American military movie that is good Sunday afternoon killer.

Thumbs up: Engaging and thrilling

Thumbs down: It has a good blend of a lot of things but doesn't excel in anything

Rating: 7.2/10