Review of Crimson Tide (1995) by Compi24 — 28 Nov 2012

"Crimson Tide" is a 1995 film Starring Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman. The Tony Scott film involves a first officer (Washington) on a nuclear submarine who clashes with his captain (Hackman) over whether or not they have enough information to perform a first strike on a volatile Russia.

As far as, Tony Scott films go, they're sort of hit or miss. I loved "Man On Fire" and "Unstoppable." However, movies like "Deja Vu" and "The Taking Of Pelham 123" are just sort of "meh" for me.

This is partly because Mr. Scott made a very strange transition midway through his career. He went from using a really clean and traditional camera movement (as in "Top Gun," "True Romance," and "Crimson Tide") to using this really frenetic and trippy camera style (as in "Deja Vu," "Man On Fire," and "Unstoppable").

Sometimes the latter works, sometimes it doesn't, but one thing that usually has stayed amazingly consistent throughout Tony Scott's career is a brilliant lead performance from Denzel Washington. Tony Scott and Denzel Washington have collaborated together five times, and they've crafted some amazing stuff.

"Crimson Tide" is no different here - Denzel sails through this movie with an utterly incredible finesse. However, while Denzel's performance is a force to be reckoned with, the best performance in this film is from none other than Popeye Doyle himself; Mr.

Gene Hackman. His portrayal of Captain Frank Ramsey is one of the most menacing performances I've seen him give in a long while. Hackman owns this ship. In terms of directing, this movie in my opinion had everything "The Hunt For Red October" had, yet there was just a tad more.

While "The Hunt For Red October" filmed it's underwater combat scenes using trick photography and models in midair, "Crimson Tide" actually shot their model ships underwater and utilized practical special effects on them regularly.

While "The Hunt For Red October" had a brilliant score by Basil Poledouris, "Crimson Tide". . .had Hans Zimmer. Finally, while "The Hunt For Red October"'s plot was very interesting and definitely worth watching, "Crimson Tide" managed to be one of the most intense filmgoing experiences for me in a very long time - the fear of a nuclear holocaust is hammered into your head at an almost unsettling degree.

White-knuckle film? You don't know the meaning of the term. "Crimson Tide" is an unbelievable film that I will not soon forget.