Danger Beneath the Sea

This is Crimson Tide. They used a clever trick to hide their misdeed: they replaced most mentions of "Russia" with "North Korea" and switched the roles between the captain and the first officer. Cunning little ones. Some scenes appear to be directly lifted from Crimson Tide and recreated shot-for-shot.

That is, the "penny dreadful" version of Crimson Tide. How did they manage to make it so much worse?

Well, the addition of a stockpile of corny dialogue helped. The characters aren't much short of just uttering "OMG, it's that deadly pass, the captain is so brave and ingenious and we nearly hit that wreck like, I could touch it, like!"

As did the pointless manicheanism. The whole point of Crimson Tide was that all aboard were taking what they thought was the right course of action and that a nuclear conflict nearly arose because the US Navi protocols were inadequate. In this movie, it's hammered home quite clearly that the first officer and his men are just your usual "baddies". Their motivations are just nefarious.

And let's not forget the pointless "action" scenes and their accompanying clichés. We're not even spared the terrible "oh! The gun fired between them! Who's dead, is it the baddie or the good guy? Lookie, it's the baddie!" scene. That was never an interesting scene, why do bad movies insist on reusing it ad nauseam?

Don't watch this, watch Crimson Tide. Partly because it's objectively better in all respects (writing, acting, directing, effects) and partly because there's no reason to endorse blatant plagiarism.

Well I lasted 3 minutes of this movie. After seeing the crew were wearing RN dauphins NOT USN ones. I realized further watching would only be more frustrating trying to pretend it wasn't a SciFi movie. Anyone who thinks was "authentic" has never had any contact with the USN or seen ANYTHING about the USN submarine service. It's too bad because there are some good actors. No excuse for this F up though.

Without the mega-budget and superstars, this B movie is pretty good movie to watch." Admiral Justice (Gerald McRaney) has high hopes for golden-boy Commander Miles Sheffield, (Casper Van Dien) and assigns him to the nuclear submarine USS Lansing. But Sheffield's appointment doesn't sit well with veteran officer Albert Kenner (Stewart Bick), who was passed over for the captain's post; a virulent anti-Communist, Kenner shares his grievances with the sub's like-minded swabbies. An unexpected power surge in North Korea causes a secret, ocean-based missile test to go awry, the resulting jolt disrupts the Lansing's communication systems and gives the erroneous impression that the ship has been attacked. Sheffield, who's untested in combat, advises laying low until he can confirm the hostile strike. But the paranoid Kenner does everything he can to undermine Sheffield's authority and, after they surface in a Korean Harbor, a radioactive powder rains on both the officers. Between the fact that the bay side city is dark (there's been a power blackout) and the nuclear shower, Kenner's worst fears seem to have been confirmed. Though Sheffield's wait-and-see policy is entirely appropriate, Kenner stages a mutiny and allows Sheffield to go untreated for radiation sickness. With his inner circle in place, Kenner activates a nuclear strike against North Korea. An international incident seems imminent; there's no way for Admiral Justice to contact the Lansing so Admiral Justice orders the USS Mako to search and destroy the Lansing.

P.S Great acting from all the cast, especially Casper Van Dien, Gerald McRaney and Ron White.

A sorry copy of "Crimson Tide" in my opinion. As each part of the film developed I just new what was going to happen next. Casper Van Dein has not been in anything nearly as good as "Starship Troopers" and it pains me to see him in this. The acting is wooden, the story predicable, give it a miss.

Dave

Now and again you run across a movie that is so completely unremarkable, that it's hard to find anything to say about it. This is such a movie. An absolutely run of the mill telemovie which tries to tread the same path as 'Crimson Tide', and of course falls ridiculously short, but is still watchable.

A US submarine is cut off from communication with the outside world, when a North Korean nuclear test goes wrong, blanking out most of East Asia because of the electro magnetic pulse. The Executive Officer decides they're at nuclear war (with who is anyone's guess), and takes over the ship, determined to launch their nukes (at who is anyone's guess, as well). The captain and the other good guys have to stop him. It's about as basic as that.

The acting and production values are pretty decent, but it is marred by some pretty silly concepts - such as an officer on board a nuclear submarine in 2001 believing that the USSR still exists. Some of the crews' reactions also seem a bit too undisciplined and far-fetched as well.

I sat through it, whereas I've switched off more illustrious blockbusters ('Blackhawk Down' for instance). I was expecting that it might be rubbish, but it was just plain old ordinary. If it had been a cinema release I might have bagged it, but for a telemovie it's excusable. This one is nudging 5 out of 10.