Sub Down - Alerta Nuclear

The filmmakers apparently made no effort to maintain even the lowest acceptable level of technical/scientific/logical consistency. It was never explained convincingly why the crew abandoned the conn (was it the gas leak? if so, why didn't they put their gas masks on?) effectively losing all control over their boat and fate, the procedures presented are way off the mark, the exhausted, asphyxiated crewmen find the energy (and the oxygen!) to cheer at the end, the conning tower diving planes have miraculously broken through the ice without leaving any trace (they are much wider than the trough opened by the sub), etc., etc. A waste of time and money, both for the makers and the viewers. Only thing worth it is Gabrielle Anwar (mainly because she is very agreeable to look at).

So my home-on-leave-from-his-submarine son and I sat down to enjoy a nice submarine movie directed by that fine technician, Alan Smithee. Seeing the apartment sized submersable that not only had plenty of room for the three civilians, but a hot tub and sauna.

OK, OK, not the hot tub. My son quickly asked for a piece of paper to list the technical errors he noticed. Soon he asked for another piece of paper, then another. Starting with the incorrect hull numbers on the boat, to the CO's tee shirt (with writing on it), to the showers -- the woman used enough water for ten men to shower for a week, not to mention the green coolant and the reacter starting like an old flathead Ford, my kid stopped counting at 65 errors.

Fo me, I like to kick back and enjoy movies without nitpicking. I can overlook minor mistakes. I know reality when I see it. My favorite part is when Stephen Baldwin finds and repairs the cause of the boat's crash dive to the bottom. A loose battery cable! One touch and everything works! Thank goodness for Diehard!

The sets were atrocious. The inside of the sub looked like the inside of a giant metal tube decorated with anything they could lay their hands on. Supposed to be a nuclear sub? Look at "Search for Red October"; "Grey Lady Down" and other 'modern' movies for ideas about sets for nuclear subs. Other than that I rather liked the movie.

The story of this film is almost unbelievable silly. The factual errors which even I have recognized are not acceptable (e.g. Russian submarine turning just around(suddenly "switches" direction on the "sonar"). I have really enjoyed watching it in a laughing way. And something for trivia: Kevin Connollies girlfriend (only shown very short in the beginning) is Nikki Cox. Both play brother and sister in "Unhappily Ever After". Just wanted to say it.

This film was a gagger. Why is it that the sailors here seem to be helpless? And the technical details; they must have been filmed like this for laughs. Green reactor coolant? A man dying from radiation exposure due to a coolant leak? Give me a break!