So apparently Tom Hanks will be starring in a film about a convoy early in the American involvement of the war getting attacked by a submarine wolfpack. Based on the 1955 novel The Good Shepherd, by CS Forester (of Horatio Hornblower fame) Tom Hanks will be portraying Commander Ernest Krause, an older US Navy Commander who if the novel is anything to go by, will be leading a convoy of mixed Allied merchant ships and escorts across the Atlantic Ocean. Many of his British subordinates will have been more experienced at War while Krause himself, despite being much older and experienced, has never seen combat and there'll be themes of his own resolve and talent being tested as a result in addition to the threat of German submarines.
Actually looking forward to the film. It's being released by Sony Pictures with a budget of about fifty million dollars. My only concern at this juncture is if it'll focus a bit too much on his apparent relationship with a loved one as referenced in the trailer as opposed to the Convoy stuff instead. A convoy movie could already have a danger of being slow/boring and stuff like that could threaten its pacing if that's the case.
It'll be coming out in June, so still a few months out.
This intrigues me--primarily because 'The Good Shephard' is a great, great novel and I'm somewhat curious if Hanks managed to screenwrite a worthy adaptation or...Didn't. Maintaining the Captain's faith gives me a bit of hope, since that was a central element to things in the book, but the U-boat radio-mockery kind've makes me blink and giggle and question how much there'll be a 'Hollywooding' of things. Either way, I'm still curious.
The CG kind've naggles at me--it looks very 'bright' and 'shiny' in ways that seem off, and since it's a budget production itself kind've reminds me of the low-budget stuff from that Gerard Butler submarine movie that came out relatively recently (Hunter Killer? I forget the name) and the stuff I saw from Midway trailers (don't recall if that was low-budget or not? Thought so).
Does make for an interesting prequel to Saving Private Ryan, though! How did the leader there get transferred from an entirely different branch, de-aged a few decades, and given an infantry command? Did he screw up that royally on the convoy escort?
To be fair that pretty much did happen a few times in the world wars most famously between the USS Borie and U-405. It wasn't done willing by the U-boats though.
To be fair that pretty much did happen a few times in the world wars most famously between the USS Borie and U-405. It wasn't done willing by the U-boats though.
Maybe, but you'd be better off setting the story in World War 1 then. Possibly involving a Commerce raider instead of a Uboat or a Q-ship instead of a regular merchant ship.
Maybe, but you'd be better off setting the story in World War 1 then. Possibly involving a Commerce raider instead of a Uboat or a Q-ship instead of a regular merchant ship.
the fight between Borie and U-405 happened in late 1943 and it wasn't by any means the only fight on the surface between submarines and surface warships in WW2
Well saw this and honestly pretty good. The trailers are a bit misleading, this film does try to be authentic and comes across more like an extended documentary. Less a story of people and more a dramatisation of events, not much depth to it but they do well with simply showing what a convoy escort was like.
The action starts within 10 minutes and doesn't stop, they are either fighting, hunting, or getting ready to do one or the other. The actual battles seem authentic, you get a lot of jumping between the plotting room, bridge, the classic sonar guy listening for pings, all familiar but not dressed up in this case.
Acting wise, it isn't exactly challenging. Beside Tom Hanks most of the other guys only ever have to shout out warnings and radar bearings Hanks does well of course humanising his character but even then he hasn't got too many moments that aren't staring grimly at something or ordering an attack. But what he does get he uses well.
The U-Boats actually turn out to be threatening enemies. The trailer did them no favours, with the exception of the wolf pack leader trash talking the other subs are suitably intimidating and competent. The film takes a lot of liberties with distance but it does make for some excellent action scenes.
Overall, good 7.5. It isn't Enemy Below but it is a fair use of 90 minutes.
I was fairly disappointed that it seemed to be exclusive on that platform for the near future to the point I couldn't even rent it or what have you anywhere else.
The only cringey part of the trailer for me was the U-Boat Captain seemingly mocking the convoy people over the radio IMHO. And maybe the love interest/relationship thing. Everything else seemed fine to me trailer wise.
I was fairly disappointed that it seemed to be exclusive on that platform for the near future to the point I couldn't even rent it or what have you anywhere else.
A lovely young lady with an eyepatch, a parrot on her shoulder and a galleon in her driveway found it for me.
Making it platform exclusive was very dumb, though I hear they do a free trial or so if there was a desire to see it that way.
The only cringey part of the trailer for me was the U-Boat Captain seemingly mocking the convoy people over the radio IMHO. And maybe the love interest/relationship thing. Everything else seemed fine to me trailer wise.
Happily the romance is about all you see in the trailer, she's in it for about five minutes at the start and that's it. The only females who get real screentime are the ships
Pretty much, that scene where a U-Boat is in a gun duel with a destroyer...
Earlier that sub had been forced to the surface with a depth charge attack which caused it to pop up almost alongside the destroyer hunting it. Because it had taken a hull breach it couldn't submerge again so it ended up fighting it out on the surface. It fought a lot harder than expected and mauled one of the escorts with his deck gun. Her captain was very good at positioning his sub to survive longer than you'd think.
Additionally that scene where he's yelling 'we'll rain hell down' that's wildly out of context He was talking about punishing crew members who had been brawling on duty and what he'd do if it happened again. Once the U-Boats rolled in there was no bravado at all, his entire performance was basically a man holding on by his finger nails trying not to fall.
That is probably the thing that really sells the film, this isn't Tom Hanks bravely and casually leading the battle of the Atlantic, it is Tom Hanks screaming internally for 90 minutes as he tries not to get thousands of people killed.
A lot of times in films like this you have the leader monologue for a moment about the burden of command and the weight of the lives on his shoulder, then he goes right back to being heroic. In this film he doesn't need to say it, you can see clearly the absolute weight of responsibility on this guy crushing him down. He's a man on the brink of desperation trying to hold it together because he's the Captain and he can't crack with his crew watching.
He really does sell it, he is a good Captain but he does make choices that get people killed. This is one of those rare films where he does his job despite very clearly struggling with his fear and the unbelievable responsibility he has. It is likely the most realistic portrayal of a Navy Commander I've seen, he isn't heroic in the traditional sense but the fact that he can hold it together, makes quick decisions and fight his ship despite everything. That's I think a reflection of the real men who did his job.
Very subtle performance and a bit surprising for people expecting a classic Hanks calm hero. Makes the film authentic.
There's a bit when things start up, when he's on the bridge and night is coming which he knows is when the wolfpack will strike. You hear his escorts all reporting contacts closing and you realise there are more U Boats than he has escorts and they won't be able to stop all of them. He knows he's going to lose ships and there's fuck all he can do about it, that hit hard. He sold that very well.
The Germans are shown well I think, apart from the pack leader trying to trash talk they use effective tactics, attack from multiple directions to pull apart the escort screen and make night attacks on the surface, all real tactics and all executed well. Some moments are a bit dramatic, but overall they do come across as a fearsome and skilled opponent compared to the fairly green destroyer crew. It is clear they are the ones calling the shots and the escorts are just reacting.
They do spend a lot of time talking about ammo and fuel, they can't for example go hunt down subs as soon as they detect them because they don't have the fuel. They also only have enough depth charges for three or four attacks so it means every attack has to count piling pressure on poor old Tom Hanks. Really do get the sense that they are fighting hard just to keep up, let alone actually win.
It is a lot like those dramatisations the History channel used to do when it still did history, just with a massive budget. There's no scenes of the crew gathered around talking of home or their future plans, no monologues on the futility of war as the main character stares at the horizon. They are just cold, terrified and tired the entire film and don't get any respite until it is done. Probably just like the real thing.
Finally saw Greyhound since a relative had Apple TV and I gotta say that was one very good movie.
Ten minutes in and the pace was set. The action didn't let up and it was in a way that there was a near perpetual tension permeating almost the entire film, which itself was only ninety minutes long. From the very first radar contact until the end of the movie, this film really made you sympathize with the stress and tension that the cast members were having to endure in constantly trying to counter and confront the U-Boat threat that was threatening their convoy. It had the stereotypical tension you'd expect from a submarine movie, only creatively enough it's an inverse situation where its the Destroyer that has all of the pressure of survival upon it (and those they're protecting).
There isn't much character development, but there is a lot of character moments in the film. Tom Hanks really sells the hanging on by the fingernails type of situation he finds himself in and the way he manages to convey the unimaginable amount of pressure and stress he's feeling without letting it show is impressive and a credit to the actor. He sells it subtly and it works. And everyone else does just fine in their specific character roles. It does play out like a simulation or documentary, like living history with how everyone is portrayed. Everyone is on duty after all so it makes sense the 'casual' moments would be few and far between.
The action scenes and special effects scenes are pretty good. I loved the hunting of the subs with the radar and sonar and all of the guesswork and tactics and the entire cat and mouse game that took place. I loved the exchange of efficient dialogue between characters as they relayed information and orders and how the film tried to shape the scene by showing the characters running from one side of the ship to the other to try and see what was going on, or the plotting maps showing the suspected locations of the submarines and worrying about the positions of the escorts and convoy ships paths and the like.
Some of the Surface Actions were a bit wonky for me, but even those scenes were well down and played up some of the tactical choices (and blunders) that could arise out of split second wrong decision making. And the range/accuracy of the surface weapons... I dunno... sometimes I wonder. I don't even want to talk about specific scenes when it comes to action because it'd be spoilery. But it was all very good. CGI as well. I won't say it was amazing or anything but it fit into the film pretty seamlessly and that's what truly counts.
Overall it's a super intense and action packed and very tension filled film. Left me riveted, no pun intended, watching the movie to see what would happen next and made me really feel sympathy for the stress and pressure being placed on the poor convoy escort crew. And the basic story was told very well.
