Hunter Killer
Gerard Butler. Somehow, in recent years he has become the go to guy for terrible b-list movies. Hunter Killer looked no different and the only reason I decided to see this was on a date and because I had already seen all the other wide releases. Still I held out hope that this film would at least be mildly entertaining and be aware of its own stupidity and run with that. That’s not exactly the case with this film as it remains super serious. The good thing was that it wasn’t completely unbearable. It’s still bad for sure but at least it has some action sequences that were fun to watch. It’s definitely not something I’m recommending at all though.
The film is about a captain and his crew on board of a submarine called the USS Arkansas. This captain (played by who else but Gerard Butler) must investigate the disappearance of another American submarine. While trying to find out what is going on, the crew realizes that there is a mass coup going on amidst the Russians and their presidents. Butler and crew, must of course save the day as he enlists help from other operatives of his country. This film stars the late Michael Nyvqist and weirdly Gary Oldman is in it as well. Going from the Oscar to Hunter Killer, wow.
The scenery in the film is great, and the action is serviceable but fairly bland. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before but it’s one of the better aspects of an otherwise unremarkable film. A film about submarines? I’m just glad this film wasn’t taking place entirely underwater and migrated to land action scenes as well. The villains are so cookie cutter and generic and the heroes are stoic and give that thousand yard stare of bravery. It’s exactly what you would come to expect. I’m just mad this film wasn’t as self-aware and just go with the cheese.
I was hoping for Gerard Butler to deliver a dumb but profound one liner and there were so many opportunities for him to do it. Apart from all that, this is a film you don’t have to ever see. I’ve done the job for you for some reason and it’s too long and with little pay off. I think it’s not as terrible as I thought it would be but that’s still not a reason to catch Hunter Killer. I kind of hope somehow a sequel gets greenlit and it becomes a running gag, while going down in history as the biggest sequel no one ever asked for.
5/10
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