Hunter Killer

I was bracing myself for this being bad, really bad.  At the same time, I wanted to see it as it's been a long time since I've seen a good naval warfare movie.  We ain't talking Battleship here either.  I hearken back to Das Boot or The Hunt For Red October.   Why bad you ask, beyond a peek at rotten tomatoes?  Gerard Butler hasn't exactly been making the best choices in recent years.  Hunter Killer, however, went beyond my expectations.  It's a tense thriller on top of a war movie and done rather well.  To anchor all that (pun intended) in, there's Gary Oldman and Toby Stephens (Black Sails) performances, as limited as they could be for a story that had to fit into this packaged time frame.  Gerard Butler was just playing, well Gerard Butler.   The story is arguably too convoluted to play out in the given time, irregardless of the relevant geo-political climate.  No, it's not the best movie, but it's certainly damn entertaining and borrows enough material from The Hunt For Red October and say a Behind Enemy Lines to keep it afloat.