Crash Dive (1997)

Simply A Masterpiece

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Some endearing characters played by a few name actors make this a tolerable ride. The great Frederic Forest (Blue Duck in Lonesome Dove and Cook in Apocalypse Now) plays a USN Admiral. However, the lack of competent technical advice made the military side of this submarine action thriller hard to take. On the SSN sub Ulysses, the new XO, we are told, is the youngest in USN history, yet he has --shall we say-- limited social skills. And his immediate subordinate ( a Lt. Commander) derisively refers to him as a "college boy". Problem is ALL USN commissioned officers are college graduates. Hatches are called "doors", lieutenant commanders are called "Lieutenant ", and an ex Navy SEAL also moonlighted as a submarine designer. Prior service guys will find these mistakes--and others like them--a hoot. But if you can say "whatever" and let it ride, it will provide a decent final act for your patience.

I like Michael Dudikoff. When he gets something he can work with, he's not too shabby. Sadly, that's a rarity for him. He's made countless STV films that are beneath him. This movie falls into that category in a big way. There have been plenty of action heroes who have taken a stab at doing Die Hard on a submarine. Dolph Lundgren, Steven Seagal, among some others. None of them have worked out well. I love Die Hard. It's one of the greatest action movies of all time, but not only did it spawn 5 sequels, but many imitators. It's been done to death in different ways. I believe Michael Dudikoff did a similar movie to this one called Counter Measures (Which I have yet to see, in case you are wondering) The main problem with this movie, like most movies that take place on a Submarine, is that it's boring. There are fight scenes, but they aren't that good. The villain is laughable. Reiner Schone does a poor man's Hans Gruber. He's as dull dishwater, and brings nothing interesting to the part. At the very least, he could have hammed it up, and had some fun, but he plays it completely seriously. Believe it or not, it actually didn't start off that bad. I was enjoying Dudikoff's relationship with his son in this movie. They cut it too short for my liking. We also get a lame twist in the finale that comes out of left field. Michael Dudikoff tries hard, but he's not enough to carry this movie. There isn't much action, it's extremely talky, it's poorly acted for the most part, and the plot is highly unoriginal. Dudikoff is better than this crud2/10

In this good B-Movie shows Michael Dudikoff that he is one of the best Action-Actors in Hollywood. He process the whole submarine with a gun and his fist. The tricks in this movie are not good, but director Andrew Stevens did a good job. The sequel "Counter Measures" is better, with more action, the lighteffects in Crash Dive are not very amuse. The story is very thrilling, the german actor Reiner Schone is a bad " terrorist`. Later the producers Stevens / Amritraj made some movies, which reminds at Crash Dive, like Freedom Strike or Fugitive Mind.

I thought that overall the movie was pretty good. A lot of action was in it and not much plot, for what it was I think that the movie turned out really good. Plus I'm a fan of Catherine Bell so I have to say she did a really good job as Lt. Cmdr. Lisa Stark! >