Give Me The Missile Key, Mr Hunter!!!

Why I haven’t watched Tony Scott’s nuclear submarine drama, Crimson Tide, much more often and much more recently (until now) I will never know, considering it’s an outright powerhouse of a thriller. In a simple high concept premise from Simpson and Bruckheimer, two senior Navel officers with wildly opposing philosophies are pitted against each other inside a US Submarine during an international crisis mirroring the Cuban Missile fiasco of the 1960’s.

Crimson Tide is a smart, exciting and gripping thriller which crackles with dramatic energy, partly thanks to the Top Gun director’s exhilarant style, but also due to the central performances of the leads. It’s the epic sparks between the stoic and ethical Denzel Washington and the refined instincts and stubbornness of old school Gene Hackman that make this so mesmerising to watch. The script is particularly wise to never treat either man as wrong which better facilitates the thematic discussion of the morality of nuclear war and how best to protect your country when faced with such an extreme situation. It’s a clash of ideals, experience, opinions and personalities that makes it so taut and riveting, rather than a simplistic battle of ‘good’ verses ‘evil’.

On top of the drama there’s plenty of familiar tropes of the sub genre with cool twists on missile drills, mechanical failures, onboard accidents, attacks from combative enemy submarines, torpedo evasion, crew mutinies and cutting edge undersea tactics to keep us on the edge of our sea. Plus it’s aided by one of the finest scores from the now prolific and prominent film composer Hans Zimmer. The description ‘majestic’ doesn’t do it justice. This is clever and engaging blockbuster movie making and we still don’t get enough of it.