Hunter Killer (2018)
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A submarine crew and a group of Navy SEALs must navigate a high-stakes mission to rescue a captured Russian President from a coup.
The story
The U.S. USS Tampa Bay disappears while shadowing the Russian RFS Konek in the Barents Sea. Rear Admiral John Fisk orders the newly promoted and unconventional Commander Joe Glass to lead the investigation on board the Arkansas. Simultaneously, Lieutenant Bill Beaman leads a Navy SEAL team on a covert mission to observe a Russian naval base in Polyarny, Murmansk Oblast. At the base, the SEALs witness Defense Minister Admiral of the Fleet Dmitriy Durov staging a coup d'état and capturing Russian President Nikolai Zakarin. They quickly realize that Durov's intention is to instigate a war.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The U.S. USS Tampa Bay disappears in the Barents Sea, leading Rear Admiral John Fisk to assign Commander Joe Glass to investigate on the submarine Arkansas. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Bill Beaman's Navy SEAL team observes a coup in Polyarny, where Admiral Dmitriy Durov captures President Nikolai Zakarin to instigate war. The SEALs are forced to leave a wounded teammate, Martinelli, behind. Arkansas discovers the wreckage of Tampa Bay and the sunken Russian Konek, which was damaged from within. They are ambushed by the Russian submarine RFS Volkov, which torpedoed Tampa Bay. Arkansas manages to rescue Russian survivors, including Captain Sergei Andropov. Fisk recommends war preparations, but Glass persuades Andropov to help the U.S. team navigate the minefield guarding the base. The SEALs infiltrate the base, retrieve Zakarin, but lose three teammates. As the fleets prepare for battle, Arkansas is attacked by the destroyer RFS Yevchenko. Andropov conveys a message that Zakarin is on board. When Durov orders missiles at Arkansas, Glass refuses to retaliate to avoid war. Andropov's former crew disobeys orders, destroys the missiles, and kills Durov. Glass docks the Arkansas to return Zakarin and the Konek crew to Russia, then picks up Beaman and Martinelli.
- First release year
- 2018
- Runtime (minutes)
- 121
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English; Russian
- Directors
- Donovan Marsh
- Writers
- Arne Schmidt · screenplay; Jamie Moss · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Gerard Butler · Joe Glass; Gary Oldman; Common; Linda Cardellini; Toby Stephens · Lt. Beaman; Michael Nyqvist · Captain Sergei Andropov; Taylor John Smith · sonar man; Gabriel Chavarria · Navy SEAL
- Genres
- action; thriller
- Themes
- Military Conflict; Espionage; Diplomacy; Sacrifice
- Tone and mood
- Tense; Action-packed; Serious
- Setting
- The Barents Sea and Polyarny, Murmansk Oblast, Russia during the modern era.
- Premise and plot tags
- Military; Submarine; Spy; Action; Thriller; War; Coup
- Source material / true-story basis
- Firing Point by Don Keith and George Wallace (2012 novel)
- Reception
- The film was a box-office disappointment and received mixed reviews from critics, who described it as a perfunctory action film.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 38% · review count: 115; Metacritic · score: 43 · scale: 100 · review count: 28
- Production trivia
- The film's interior sets were built using blueprints approved by the U.S. Navy.; The film was denied an exhibition license in Ukraine because it contained a 'positive image of the Russian president and admiral of the Russian army'.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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