Hostile Waters (1997)

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is pretty much a one man show.Mr R.Hauer is outstanding as the Russian submarine captain determined at all costs to save his crew after a nuclear accident at sea.His is the only character allowed to develop.His American counterpart - Mr M.Sheen - is very one - dimensional by comparison. Mr Hauer is hypnotic.No wonder his men are willing to follow him to hell and back.He radiates strength and integrity. The Cold War politics may seem slightly ridiculous until you remember the reluctance of the Russian navy to acknowledge the plight of the "Kursk" much more recently - proof - if it were needed - that suspicion is deeply rooted in that nation's soul. There is a smattering of British thesps scattered through the Russian crew giving it a certain European gravitas. The claustrophobic nature of the submariner's life is well realised. Whether the incident recounted in the movie occurred in real life is obviously a moot point, but that debate should not be allowed to sideline the overwhelming merits of this production. Before reading the other comments on this site I hadn't realised that "Hostile Waters" was a TV movie;without being in any way patronising I can only say that only makes it even more impressive.

I spent 24 years at sea and I liked this film because of the accurate portrayal (of the Russians ) in an emergency situation and the way the situations were assessed and dealt with was pretty genuine.Like Sailors everywhere ( well most sailors with some sad exceptions ie Flag of convenience Passenger ships where the crew take to the boats first in recent years)They realise they have to pull together and get things sorted in order to save their Ship ,themselves, and the Eastern US SeaboardWhen I was at sea we had a typical British tongue in cheek saying'If in Danger or in doubt run in circles scream and shout'Which luckily never happens in reality (I hope..)No Nationalistic ranting or Stars/Stripes/Hammer and sickle waving -But do we need that anyway?

"Hostile Waters" tells of Soviet nuclear sub K219 which sank in 18,000 feet of water 600 miles east of Bermuda in 1986 just prior to the Regan/Gorbachev summit in Iceland. The drama spends 70% of the run on the Soviet sub (Skipper: Hauer), 10% on an American sub (Skipper: Sheen) nearby (with which the Soviet sub allegedly collided), and 20% divided between the Soviet and US situation rooms. The bulk of the film is a bunch of sweaty Submariners grunting as they struggle with wrenches while bemoaning gauges which are red-lining (a bad thing), etc. The suspenseful moments in this dumbed-down flick are dragged waaaaay out in an apparent attempt to squeeze the most out of what little story the film has to work with. An okay watch for action/drama junkies but keep expectations low. "Das Boot" it ain't. (C)

It is difficult to portray several days of events in two hours of TV, but "Hostile Waters" captured most of the emotions of the situation. It is not a documentary, nor even a docu-drama, but a dramatisation of events that actually occurred. Once again I was impressed with the quality of Rutger Hauer's craft in his portrayal of the Soviet captain who earned the respect of his crew by simply being "the Captain" in every respect (in fact, since the film did depart from the real events far enough, it might have better been titled "The Captain"). I was not wildly impressed by the character portrayed by Martin Sheen: either the director deliberately portrayed the pampered US nuke drivers as insecure martinets, or Sheen acted badly. The juxtaposition of the living conditions aboard the US submarine and the Soviet submarine was obviously done to make a point, but what that point is I do not know, and this is what will make this film a classic for those who want to interpret characterisations in the light of the director's perceived aims.