Steel Sharks (1997)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A guy called Ronald McDonald (okay, Rodney, but I was close) directs this lousy military-themed thriller that features a few familiar faces of interest but is in every other respect something of a dud. This low budget story features a heck of a lot of stock footage scenes of helicopters and submarines and the like, but almost all of the action takes place on dark secrets and in gloomy rooms with specialist teams shooting bad guys in bloodless, repetitive interludes.The main hero role is taken by Billy Warlock, former BAYWATCH actor but someone I know best from the delightfully surreal horror film SOCIETY. He's okay, but quite wooden here. The two old-timers in the cast are Billy Dee Williams and Gary Busey, both of whom have absolutely nothing to do aside from barking orders and acting tough. To say that they're underused is an understatement. The story fails to be exciting at very time, and the best word I can use to describe STEEL SHARKS is simply 'bland'.

This film is more interesting today than when it was released in 1997.However it's still fighting WW11,not todays enemy as the script would like you to believe.Still a good sub film is hard to find.Add to it Navy Seals and its watchable one time.The plot is simple. Civilian scientist is kidnapped and the seals have to rescue him.Good stuff.The problem is that its Iran military not terrorists and the seal team sent to rescue him does but is captured itself and put on a Iranian sub which then plays "tag"with a US sub sent to extract the team after its mission.Some good navy footage as the Navy cooperated in the filming.Carriers,planes and subs,OH MY !!!! Still its good to boo the Iranians and cheer the seals even if it rings like fighting the "last"war instead of the one to come.Gary Busey plays Cmdr. Bill McKay,the USN subs captain with just enough aplomb to make you wonder if he's going to go off.Billy Dee Williams as Adm. Jim Perry head of the fleet, is really under-used and the rest of the cast is OK but not well known then or now,including the actors who played the seals.If you have nothing else to do, watch it.It's well made just not plausible.

Very predictable, but entertaining. Dr. Van Tasset(Barry Livingston)is an American expert on chemical weapons, who is kidnapped following a military coup in Iran. An elite squad of the Navy Seals called the "Steel Sharks" are assigned to rescue him. The "Sharks" are led by Lt. Zambroski(David Roberson)and last minute new member Bob Rogers(Billy Warlock), who has doubts of living up to the Seals standards. Capt. McKay(Gary Busey), commander of the submarine the USS Oakland, draws the assignment from Admiral Perry(Billy Dee Williams)to take the "Sharks" to Iran. Van Tasset is rescued, but along with the "Sharks" are captured and held prisoner on an Iranian submarine. Thus comes the expected underwater duel. Very few surprises. I still don't get the prudence of a gun battle on a submerged submarine. Also in the cast: Anthony Griffith, Tim Lounibos and Matthew R. Anderson. I have always been a sucker for submarine flicks.

The movie starts very slow but don't judge the movie by its initial 40 minutes at least. Story line is pretty straight forward and easy to watch. The sequences in the submarine "hunter and hunted" scenes in the second half of the movie are excellent. Acting improves all the way in the movie. You will be gripping at your arm rest to know how it will end. Somehow it seems like acting school movie for both producers and actor/actresses. But the outcome is certainly watchable. Underwater filming of the subs in motion is commendable. And I feel the end scene could have been something more glamorous and looks like the film budget hit the wall here!