Sub Down

Rating:
Summary: hold your breath
Review: Director Gregg Champion disowned this title so the director is listed as the infamous Alan Smithee. It actually begins with odd footage of ice falling in arctic seas (explained in the conclusion) and some jump cutting of aerial views, but soon we got lost in anti-Russian propaganda (which dates it), military hawkishness, a woman amongst a crew of men, and the worst being scientific hardware blather. Screenwriter Howard Chesley, with story by himself, Silvio Muraglia and Daniel Sladek, create a narrative of a submarine carrying a subpod named Marvyn which is to be used for research of the polar caps, but in a nice twist it is the pod which must rescue it's host submarine from disaster when it is "accidently" rammed by a Russian sub. In spite of presenting the crew of the sub with no pretence that we are seeing anything other than a set, Champion does manage an initial Alien-type moody atmosphere when the inhabitants of the pod - Stephen Baldwin, Gabrielle Anwar and Tom Conti - return to find the crew missing, their disappearance more a plot contrivance than a believable development. With a barrage of obstacles including the sea's crushing low air pressure, lack of oxygen, radioactive leakage, loose torpedoes, loss of communications, and the accompanying race against time, poor Champion falls back on panning reaction shots, and ludicrous hysterics when oxygen is rationed. Conti isn't around long but he heightens his English accent to either play a scientists, a baffoon or to match Anwar. Anwar is pretty forgettable, relying on her long hair being wet, but thankfully Baldwin adds some minor personality touches, his nerd/hunk mix less a pain than a Bruce/Arnold cartoon man of action. The whale cries on the soundtrack at the beginning has a payoff, like the falling ice, even if the footage doesn't match, and the final image is perhaps too phallic not to be laughable.

Rating:
Summary: Sub Down - My Opionion
Review: one of the better sub thrillers around.. i would compare it to "the hunt for red october" for all the excitement of an undersea high-tech adventure,this should end up being a classic buy for your collection..well worth the purchase price..

Rating:
Summary: Sub Down - My Opionion
Review: one of the better sub thrillers around.. i would compare it to "the hunt for red october" for all the excitement of an undersea high-tech adventure,this should end up being a classic buy for your collection..well worth the purchase price..

Rating:
Summary: A favorite
Review: When a U.S. nuclear submarine on a scientific mission is accidentally hit by a Russian sub, it will be up to three unlikely heroes to save the crew, and themselves.

Compared to Hunt For Red October and Crimson Tide, Sub Down is amateurish, but I still think it's a great movie, with lovable characters, and a good balance of science, suspense, and humor.