Somewhere in the middle of Hunter Killer, while on a mission to rescue the Russian president Zakarin, one American soldier tells another American soldier, “Zakarin? I thought we hated that guy?” The other soldier replies casually, like it’s just another day at work (because it is), “Well, I guess things change.” This is my favourite line from the movie. It presents soldiers as nothing more than brave pawns following orders. They’re unaware about the internal politics nor about the mumbo-jumbo that goes on behind the scenes. If they’re told to shoot, they shoot. If they’re told to rescue, they rescue. The true villains (if you will) are the politicians. It’s an interesting idea to touch on. The problem is, this interesting idea is sandwiched in another Gerard Butler quick buck vehicle.
Hunter Killer is the kind of movie with no characters, only famous faces who seemingly rolled out of bed and walked right in front of the camera, said some lines, collected their paycheck and rolled straight back into bed. Some of these famous faces — I’m looking at you Mr Gary Oldman — is clearly only in the movie because he, unfortunately, signed on in 2016, before his big Oscar win. But of course, the marketing folks aren’t complaining. They’re happy to slap ‘Academy Award-winning Gary Oldman’ on every poster and trailer, hoping to con people into thinking Hunter Killer is anything more than a throwaway time killer. (I guess it’s better than saying ‘From the director of The Conjuring… James Wan presents… The Nun.’)
First up we have Gerard Butler, playing Gerard Butler masquerading as a submarine captain. He may be in a different location/vehicle, but make no mistake this is the exact same character you see in action flicks like Olympus Has Fallen and Geostorm, very different from the Gerard Butler we see in Den of Thieves, though. Next to roll out of bed is Common who sorta just stands around and whose character comes up with one idea. We also have ACADEMY AWARD WINNING GARY OLDMAN, who’s always on the verge of exploding in anger and is like, “f*ck you Common! Your idea sucks. WE NEED TO PREPARE THE SHIPS FOR ATTACK!”
But I can’t decide which two of the following US characters are my favourite. It’s a toss-up between Linda Cardellini, whose only purpose in the movie is to reiterate “I’m an NSA agent” in various intonations — you can consider this her audition tape for female Groot — and the young submarine Executive Officer who’s a bitchier version of Draco Malfoy. Over on the other side, we have a very evil Russian Minister of Defence played by Michael Gor, a not so evil Russian submarine captain embodied by the late Michael Nyqvist and a not so evil Russian president (Alexander Diachenko) who feels more like the stereotypical dads you see in rich white neighbourhoods — the ones that mow their lawns on a sunny Sunday evening — than a president. But we’re lucky that they have enough natural charisma in them to carry the movie, despite the hollow screenplay their working with.
But here’s what’s really surprising: I wasn’t bored to death.
The premise feels like two separate screenplays stitched together, but it doesn’t come with ridiculous mind-numbing twists and turns. It’s also very silly, and that helps a lot. A Russian submarine explodes, but it isn’t because of the US, as the Russians are led to believe. They were sabotaged, as part of the Russian military coup led by the Minister of Defence, who, I should remind you, is very evil.
It’s up to Gerard Butler and his crew to dive into Russian waters, manoeuvre through naval mines and rescue the Russian president with the help of Michael Nyqvist’s character. Hunter Killer is as logical as a monkey riding a tricycle, but thankfully it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Director Donovan Marsh has some fun with the premise and focuses more on the decently staged action sequences and less on the political banter (though there is some of that too and when it comes, it’s cheesier than a slice of pizza).
The sequences in which the submarine tries to avoid being detected by sound sensors are a lot of fun. Donovan Marsh at times, uses silence to a surprisingly effective degree. It isn’t A Quiet Place but there is a moment in the film that caused the entire cinema to gasp. I gasped too and quickly covered my mouth with the palm of my hand. There’s also an action set piece where an American special forces agent takes cover in between some branches on a tree and starts snipping down Russian soldiers from an incredibly long distance as if he took a summer course from Deadshot. (That Gerard Butler isn’t the one carrying the gun and blasting some bad guys, is a pleasant surprise.)
But there’s no denying the ridiculousness of it all. Here’s an American film that tries to tell you that perhaps Russia isn’t the enemy. That Americans and Russians can work together harmoniously for a better tomorrow. But it does so without nuance, depth or grey areas. It’s also a film where the submarine captained by Gerard Butler at times sails as gracefully and swiftly as the cars in Tokyo Drift. In other words, if you’re going to watch Hunter Killer, go drunk.
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