It is debatable whether one should put down this film because of its inaccurate portrayal of the book it's based on, but as a TV movie this proved very tight and and absorbing. Director David Drury has done wonders on what I assumed is a very small budget. Rutger Hauer is excellent as the Captain forced to make impromptu decisions with life and death consequences. His challenge was how to keep the pride and dignity of the Soviet people in such dire circumstances. Sadly, the Soviet captain may be revered as a hero by America but in the Soviet Union he has been labelled a villain.
Admittedly the roles of people like Martin Sheen and Max Von Sydow were much underplayed, but this is excusable considering most of the tension centered in the Soviet sub. Besides Hauer, the acting by the rest of the Soviet crew was superb. There are many submarine-based movies of late, and although I'm watching this three years late, Hostile Waters certainly has kept it's head high. I'd rank this movie as good as "The Hunt For Red October".
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