I personally am a fan of anything H. L. Hunley, but I can't un-see what amounted to the waste of an earnest cast, many of whom were miscast in the roles of the ill fated operational Hunley crew. I truly hope the spirit of General Pierre Beauregard does not glance upon his thespian counterpart.
No spoiler intended but there is more infantry/cavalry/artillery reenactment footage, time spent in a brothel, and episodes of counter-intelligence comedy than there is footage of the Hunley. About the only thing they got right was the probable cause of death of the Hunley crew. It's as if the writers tried to mash-up the scripts of IRONCLADS (1991) and THE HUNLEY (1999) with a horrible outcome.
The graphics used to depict movement at sea are at best, primitive. Think slightly better than reruns of Clutch Cargo. The lack of detail of the only two Union officers aboard Housatonic and their cameo appearances are rather unconvincing. Of note, the cap worn by the Union captain is available through Blockaderunnerdotcom and they are of fine quality.
More on the center of activity, the brothel; the cast makes me wonder if most every lady of the evening in Charleston of the period was over the age of fifty-five. No wonder Rhett Butler left for Atlanta. I pity the work load of the only two younger employees of this establishment.
With the tempo and smoothness of a high school drama performance and with a crew mostly too large to fit through Hunley's narrow hatches, this motion picture is regrettably one of the very few dramas on the subject, so pay the man the five bucks and judge for yourself. I doubt I'll watch it again, but there it is in "My Stuff", forever to haunt me. Maybe it will appear better after several bourbons and branch water.
No spoiler intended but there is more infantry/cavalry/artillery reenactment footage, time spent in a brothel, and episodes of counter-intelligence comedy than there is footage of the Hunley. About the only thing they got right was the probable cause of death of the Hunley crew. It's as if the writers tried to mash-up the scripts of IRONCLADS (1991) and THE HUNLEY (1999) with a horrible outcome.
The graphics used to depict movement at sea are at best, primitive. Think slightly better than reruns of Clutch Cargo. The lack of detail of the only two Union officers aboard Housatonic and their cameo appearances are rather unconvincing. Of note, the cap worn by the Union captain is available through Blockaderunnerdotcom and they are of fine quality.
More on the center of activity, the brothel; the cast makes me wonder if most every lady of the evening in Charleston of the period was over the age of fifty-five. No wonder Rhett Butler left for Atlanta. I pity the work load of the only two younger employees of this establishment.
With the tempo and smoothness of a high school drama performance and with a crew mostly too large to fit through Hunley's narrow hatches, this motion picture is regrettably one of the very few dramas on the subject, so pay the man the five bucks and judge for yourself. I doubt I'll watch it again, but there it is in "My Stuff", forever to haunt me. Maybe it will appear better after several bourbons and branch water.
