Don’t you just miss the old days of the Cold War? Let’s be honest. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, there just haven’t been any interesting bad guys around anymore. Sure, there’s plenty of bad guys out there, more now than likely ever before. But these bad guys are just nasty and about as colorful as a 1 crayon box of crayolas. If you miss those old days, then Crimson Tide is the film for you. It’s one of those last looks back before an era disappears under the horizon never to be seen again.

It’s in the days just after the Cold War. A renegade Russian general is doing some serious saber rattling, and tensions are suddenly riding high between Russia and the United States. With a very real threat of nuclear attack, American ships go on alert. One such ship is the submarine Alabama, capable of launching more power in one attack than has ever been released in war before. Captain Ramsey (Hackman) is a seasoned sub commander with his own ideas of discipline. He admonishes his crew before departure that while the Commander-In Chief might run the Navy, the Alabama belongs to him. His demeanor can be summed up by one of the film’s classic lines: “We’re here to preserve democracy, not to practice it.” Add to the current state of world affairs that Ramsey is about to break in a new Executive Officer in Commander Hunter (Washington). Hunter is a graduate of Annapolis and the Ivy League. His style of command is far more enlightened, and we discover very quickly that the two styles are going to clash. Once the film is underway, Tony Scott makes a rather brave decision. As viewers we become isolated with the crew. We have no more knowledge of how the conflict is progressing than the crew of the Alabama, perhaps less. It’s a smart move that makes the suspense and tension in this film rise nearly to a boiling point. A series of Emergency Action Messages inform us that things have gotten worse, and the world is at the brink of nuclear war. After a battle with a rogue Russian sub, the Alabama is cut off from any further communication. The last standing orders were to launch its missiles. A garbled incomplete message becomes the catalyst for everything that happens next. Ramsey is determined to carry out his orders, while Hunter demands verification of the incomplete message first. The sub is suddenly divided, and both men will stop at nothing to carry out what each perceives as his duty. The stage is set for a power struggle with the fate of the planet hanging in the balance.

First of all, the two leads are at their absolute best. When Hackman and Washington go head to head in the confined environment of the sub, the tension is very real. Let’s face it. No one gets angry better than Gene Hackman. When he delivers his commands, you’re almost ready to leave your own comfortable seat to see to them. Washington, on the other hand, manages to play the character with the cooler head forced to resort to violence in order to maintain that measured action. While it’s easy to make Hackman the villain here, he convinces us that he’s doing what every fiber of his being tells him is the right thing to do. There’s a strong supporting cast here as well. A very young and rather slim James Gandolfini shows just an inkling of the future Tony Soprano with just a stare. He has this uncanny ability to communicate more than we want to really know with just the slightest hint of a crooked smile under eyes that are like lasers in their focus and intensity. Viggo Mortensen gives the most subtle performance of his career as the conflicted weapons chief. His temper and emotion remains almost flat line throughout the crises, but we see the internal turmoil just the same. Hey, even little Ricky Shroder is all grown up and holds his own with some heavy hitting talent. Finally, George Dzundza breaks out here as the chief of the boat. If you’re going to limit your locations to such minimalist sets, you better have solid acting to anchor it all, and that’s where Crimson Tide excels.

Crimson Tide takes its cue from two types of films. There’s certainly a great Fail Safe influence here. Until the climax we really don’t know how close we are to a nuclear war, either started by the Russians or perhaps accidentally by the single-minded determination of Ramsey to complete his mission. The second influence has to be the classic submarine films that Gandolfini’s character is such a fan of. Films like Run Silent Run Deep leave their mark in the wonderfully controlled anarchy of submarine life. The sets are convincing, and Scott accomplishes a lot with very little…. space, that is. Hans Zimmer delivers a rousing score that already shows the kernel of Gladiator with each grand swell. Put simply, Crimson Tide clicks on all cylinders.

Video

Crimson Tide is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The hi-def transfer makes use of wonderfully mastered AVC MPEG4 codec. This is a bit of an older film, and I’m sorry to say it doesn’t pop as much as I had hoped in its 1080P hi-def reproduction. It’s not that there are any serious flaws in the transfer. Compression is good. The film maintains a solid 25-30 mbps with the peaks reaching around 36. The print is clean. The problem is the lighting for the most part. Black levels disappointed me some, and too much of the action was lost without tight shadow detail. Even the non-submarine scenes at the beginning and end of the film failed to deliver much more than a superior SD looking image. The court scene at the end was quite a bit washed out. Perhaps the lighting was a conscious choice to contrast the dark sub interiors, but the characters’ white dress uniforms were extremely over bright. I was somewhat impressed with the subtle lighting during many of the film’s “red emergency light” moments. There was a solid level of separation there that gave me the best definition of anywhere in the film. Don’t get me wrong. This is a definite improvement over the SD releases, but I expected that, and more.

Audio

This is a nice PCM uncompressed 5.1 presentation. The audio is compressed at a decent 4.6 mbps. Zimmer’s score gets the most bang for the buck here. Obviously with all of the action happening in such limited quarters, dialog is the most important aspect to the sound, and the goods are delivered here. Understand that it is the filmmaker’s intention to create a rather claustrophobic atmosphere here, so there isn’t going to be a very aggressive use of surrounds. Still, there is plenty going on. When the ship drops to nearly crush depth, the creaking of the hull is eerily realistic. The mix is about perfect to give you the feel required to keep yourself in the action. What the film gives up in surrounds it more than compensates for in the subwoofer ranges. There are some wonderfully deep and resounding moments here that you simply have to feel in order to truly appreciate.

Special Features

All of the extras here appear to be imported from the standard DVD release. It’s all in SD format.

• Deleted Scenes: I think some of this stuff was cut to cut out some more vulgar language and innuendo. You get a little over 6 minutes.

• All Access Pass: Most of this 10 minute behind the scenes tour focuses on George Dzundza. There’s a lot more clowning around shown here than is usual. You get the obligatory shots of Tony Scott munchin’ on his big cigar. The best part of the feature is a rare look at a rehearsal session.

• The Making Of Crimson Tide: This is your very typical 16 minute collection of clips, interviews and a few peeks at the production. There’s not a lot of depth here, and frankly it doesn’t appear to take the film very seriously at all.

Final Thoughts

Since The Hunt For Red October, submarine movies have made a bit of a comeback. Instead of the old U boat WWII stories, many of them took the submarine into its more modern era. With better effects and impressive casts, these films have been a bit of a successful niche for Hollywood for about 15 years. Crimson Tide is one of the better films from that cycle. I welcome its release in hi-def even if the transfer fell a little short for me in some areas. I’m not really laying blame, and the film does still look very good. Perhaps the soft and often muddy image is too much a part of the atmosphere and not really to be considered a flaw at all. It didn’t take away my enjoyment of the film at all. Hell. “Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks.”