Hunter Killer (2018) Review

Imagine that you are a Russian submarine captain and you are stranded on the ocean floor. Then you get rescued by an American submarine and thrown into the brig, and the American captain who looks like Gerard Butler visits you and says: “Look, I know you speak English. I need you to tell me how to enter a Russian military harbor because we need to save the Russian president. He’s kidnapped by traitors, yeah. So think about it”, and then leaves. What would your reaction be? I would guess that your reaction would not be to swallow this story immediately and at the crucial time to show up on the bridge to guide the Americans through the Russian minefields, no questions asked.

This is, however, that kind of movie.

This scene illustrates everything that is wrong with the movie’s idea of reality. It is, essentially, a completely nonsensical action thriller in which the only elements of importance are (1) the American military, (2) the Russian adversary and (3) Gerard Butler’s desired status as action hero. Especially that last point is rather divorced from reality, even more so than its geopolitics. Butler tries so hard, in Gods of Egypt (2016) and London has Fallen (2016) and Geostorm (2017) and now this. He doesn’t have the charisma and his movies suck.

Captain Glass (Butler) is introduced to us in a scene that should just say it all. Butler is walking through the Scottish Highlands with a sniper rifle, and he is ready to shoot a beautiful innocent deer right in the face. But then he sees that the deer has little babies walking behind it, so he refrains. Thus illustrating that Butler is a hard-ass with a heart of gold, who only feels empathy when his deer victim has baby deer. I cannot watch scenes like these with any feeling of immersion. I can just see the writers superimposed on the screen, thinking “how should we illustrate Butler’s character? Oh right, I got it.” Then a helicopter picks him up and dumps him next to a submarine. He takes command and 5 seconds later they are suddenly 2000 miles away.

Submarines do speak to the imagination, though, and the underwater scenes look nice. But the film feels really long and feels like PR material for the American military and Butler’s ego. After two hours, world war III is about to break out and more and more military hardware is shoved onto the screen. Many of the Russian ships are clearly computer generated, but the shots from American fighters and ships must have all been made in an agreement between Hollywood and the military. Meanwhile, American snipers in what is supposed to be northern Russia keep on making headshot after headshot while the Russians miss. The Russian president addresses his countrymen in fluent English at the end.

So, if you like nonstop action and are not bothered by very transparent moral grandstanding, lack of political realism and possible external reasons behind the production of the movie, you might still have a good time.

5/10