Le chant du loup

I found it very unpredictable right up to the very end. Really enjoyed it. The characters were all week played too. If you enjoyed Hunt for Red October or K19 you'll love this.

If you're into military thrillers, movies like Failsafe, you might like this. It has plenty of twists, good pacing, and a unlikely hero, a flawed sonar man who loves his country and is very good at his job.

The movie is not free of tactical and strategic logic holes, but the pacing, progression of events, f/x, live shots at sea, military action dialogue, and story keep you locked in. For English only viewers, the English dub is excellent.

Submarine movie genre is quite unique in France, I just remember having seen 40 years ago the René Clément "les Maudits" (with a terrific scene), I really don't remember another french title dealing with submarines. Even in Hollywood, it's a seldom exploited theme. And we have the opportunity to discover a kind of french Joel Silver production, but without Bruce Willis or other great star. And that's cool, all cast is fine (Francis Lavil as the special acoustic young specialist), but real special bravo to director Antonin Baudry and his team : first direction, complete solid and technical direction, tragic suspense, a never seen geo political subject in french cinema. Go on Mr Baudry, we're waiting for your next movie.

There's a lot of reviews here making points such as "could not happen".

Ok sure, there's some unrealistic stuff going on.

But there's also a lot of original and thoughtful scenes that are explored. There's a lot of ideas here that feel completely fresh.

The idea that a French submarine, once committed to a nuclear strike, will not receive any orders to abort, is a weak one. Unfortunately a large part of the movie hinges around this concept. The second half of the movie does feel a little silly at times because of this.

I liked the sonar guy as the hero.

Reading the reviews here, it seems to be a love it or hate it movie - I don't understand why. I grew up watching the original Das Boot as TV series and went through all the submarine movies. Instead of comparing the incomparable and saying what is flawed etc., I simply want to point out what I liked watching this movie twice:

• refreshing actor set, no B-movie characters just like "could be your neighbour" type
• storyline that could happen, although we normal people would never hear about it
• great music/ambience perfectly fitting the setting
• straightforward effects, less is more
• happy end without happy end, evoked emotions
• overall a very refreshing, non-cliche Hollywood-type movie.