The always rock solid Ed Harris shines as Demi, a veteran officer in the Russian Navy. His comrade Markov (Lance Henriksen, in a much too brief cameo role) sends him out to sea, as commander of a sub, and some last minute passengers tag along. One of them is Bruni (David Duchovny), a rogue KGB agent, and you just KNOW that his agenda is going to be dubious and scary. Tensions run high above the sub as the men are forced to confront the idea of going to war with America.
First, let's get to the debits. Going by other IMDb reviews here, it's clear that writer / director Todd Robinson either didn't do much research, or else he just didn't give a damn. There are a bunch of inaccuracies. We could start with the fact that we've got a largely accent-free American cast playing supposed Russian characters, but that's just stating the obvious. The special effects, admittedly, could have been better. Thankfully, they don't detract too much from the experience.
The story is set up as being inspired by a real life incident which could indeed have begun a nuclear war; to this day the facts of the matter are apparently kept under wraps by both the Americans and Russians. This does make for some reasonably watchable drama, action, suspense, and excitement, along with the appeal of a classic submarine thriller in the Hollywood tradition.
While almost everybody here is completely unconvincing as a Russian, you can see that the performances are still quite engaging - for the most part. Duchovny isn't enough of an actor to bring a lot of gravitas to his villainous role, but Harris and William Fichtner (as Harris' reliable XO) pick up the slack. Harris projects perfect authority and you do believe him as a leader of men. Johnathon Schaech, Jason Beghe, Derek Magyar, Sean Patrick Flanery, Jason Gray-Stanford, Julian Adams, Kip Pardue, and Jordan Bridges (son of Beau B.) co-star. By the way, Adams plays a character named Bavenod, which is close enough to (Boris) Badenov that you can't help but smirk every time his name is uttered.
Overall, a decent and enjoyable flick with a fairly clever ending. Just be prepared to suspend a sizable amount of disbelief.
Seven out of 10.
First, let's get to the debits. Going by other IMDb reviews here, it's clear that writer / director Todd Robinson either didn't do much research, or else he just didn't give a damn. There are a bunch of inaccuracies. We could start with the fact that we've got a largely accent-free American cast playing supposed Russian characters, but that's just stating the obvious. The special effects, admittedly, could have been better. Thankfully, they don't detract too much from the experience.
The story is set up as being inspired by a real life incident which could indeed have begun a nuclear war; to this day the facts of the matter are apparently kept under wraps by both the Americans and Russians. This does make for some reasonably watchable drama, action, suspense, and excitement, along with the appeal of a classic submarine thriller in the Hollywood tradition.
While almost everybody here is completely unconvincing as a Russian, you can see that the performances are still quite engaging - for the most part. Duchovny isn't enough of an actor to bring a lot of gravitas to his villainous role, but Harris and William Fichtner (as Harris' reliable XO) pick up the slack. Harris projects perfect authority and you do believe him as a leader of men. Johnathon Schaech, Jason Beghe, Derek Magyar, Sean Patrick Flanery, Jason Gray-Stanford, Julian Adams, Kip Pardue, and Jordan Bridges (son of Beau B.) co-star. By the way, Adams plays a character named Bavenod, which is close enough to (Boris) Badenov that you can't help but smirk every time his name is uttered.
Overall, a decent and enjoyable flick with a fairly clever ending. Just be prepared to suspend a sizable amount of disbelief.
Seven out of 10.