'Hunter Killer' is entertaining enough, in the vein of geopolitical action thrillers à la Tom Clancy. The problem is that it's so heavily derivative of Clancy's line that it comes across as a cheap knockoff.
Nor does it help that, in 2018, this film should feature a homely old blonde woman as America's president as the troops rush to rescue the moderate Russian president against a warmongering military coup from his own. It seems to be some sort of desperate appeal to the afterglow of a "Greatest Generation" civic nationalism, though I'm not sure whether it's meant to try to offer an olive branch to the fake-cosmopolitan left to accept this otherwise typically jingoistic Hollywood military fare, or an invitation for the heartland to turn on Trump and get back to America's valiant liberal international mission. Either way, it's an eye-rollingly un-subtle ploy, and yet for precisely that reason it is highly amusing. (What's less amusing is the knowledge that this idiotic level of human intelligence is at work in the American "intelligence-gathering" apparatus every bit as much as in Hollywood.)
All that said, the performances are about as decent as they can be for such a wooden script and the production values are top-notch. The film at least does a great job of putting us in the action, even though said action takes quite some time to start up. If you want an action movie with more of a human element that "stays with" or inspires you, you're better off checking out 'Midway' or even 'Hurricane' (aka 'Mission of Honor'), which granted do have the advantage of being based on non-fiction. For a quiet evening in, this one will do you just fine.
Nor does it help that, in 2018, this film should feature a homely old blonde woman as America's president as the troops rush to rescue the moderate Russian president against a warmongering military coup from his own. It seems to be some sort of desperate appeal to the afterglow of a "Greatest Generation" civic nationalism, though I'm not sure whether it's meant to try to offer an olive branch to the fake-cosmopolitan left to accept this otherwise typically jingoistic Hollywood military fare, or an invitation for the heartland to turn on Trump and get back to America's valiant liberal international mission. Either way, it's an eye-rollingly un-subtle ploy, and yet for precisely that reason it is highly amusing. (What's less amusing is the knowledge that this idiotic level of human intelligence is at work in the American "intelligence-gathering" apparatus every bit as much as in Hollywood.)
All that said, the performances are about as decent as they can be for such a wooden script and the production values are top-notch. The film at least does a great job of putting us in the action, even though said action takes quite some time to start up. If you want an action movie with more of a human element that "stays with" or inspires you, you're better off checking out 'Midway' or even 'Hurricane' (aka 'Mission of Honor'), which granted do have the advantage of being based on non-fiction. For a quiet evening in, this one will do you just fine.