Great Scott presents: Crimson Tide
Crimson Tide
Tony: 1995
Every fortnight (ish)* my beloved and I are watching a film by either Ridley or Tony Scott. We’re watching in chronological order. There are, of course, spoilers.
A: The captain of a US nuclear missile sub is as powerful as the president of the US or Russia? Really?
J: Ok – A proper movie tonight – Simpson / Scott.
A: the setting: a Chechen ‘rebellion’ and Russian government has been suspended… civil war in Russia, basically. OOH Cuban missile crisis analogy. And starting with a kids’ birthday party is NEVER a good sign, man. Never.
J: Dramatic opening, rain, political intrigue … heavily armoured base…
A: The CO (Cranky Gene Hackman) interviewing a new XO (Serious Denzel)… already possible cracks appearing (former raising an eyebrow at the year at Harvard…) – and then jokes from other officers about the captain going through XO. That’s what we call BODING. Continue reading →
Unstoppable
Unstoppable is close to being the perfect action flick, even though it doesn’t have Bruce Willis in it.
- It’s “inspired” by true events, which gives it a slightly more gripping and horrifying feel than your generic action-adventure.
- There are trains going to high speed.
- There are helicopters getting close to trains going at high speed.
- There’s a little bit of family drama: just enough to give the viewer an investment in the main characters, not enough that I started to fall asleep and/or expected Elijah Wood to turn up.
- It has Denzel Washington to make up for the lack of Bruce Willis.
- There are trains going at high speed.
- There’s a mad dude with a pony tail who drives a red pick-up really, really fast.
- There’s conflict between a (black, female) subordinate and a (fat, white, male) superior.
- It’s a rooky/retiree buddy flick, but the conflict between them is neither overplayed to tragic Greek proportions nor downplayed to non-existence.
- It’s less than 100 minutes in duration.
- It knows when to end.
Seriously, I loved this film. It has highs, it has lows, it has comedic and blood-draining-from-the-face moments. Chris Pine is quite good, and Washington is… Washington. I could watch that man even if he was acting as a football coach. (Oh wait, I have. Numerous times.) It’s no Oscar contender, but for excitement and entertainment it’s a winner.
Randomly Yours, Alex 