In the typical Don Simpson-Jerry Bruckheimer mold (the partnership yielded Top Gun and Days of Thunder, among many other films), this 1995 drama is a combination of one-dimensional but enjoyable performances, lots of high-tech nonsense taking place onscreen, and mechanistic movie-making at its loudest and most seizure-inducing. Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington play nuclear submarine officers squaring off over the former's apparent intention to do some unauthorized damage to an enemy. Tony Scott (Top Gun) directed, bringing his luster and pop commercial sense to go with all that Simpson-Bruckheimer eye candy. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com
You can almost hear the studio pitch meeting echoing throughout Crimson Tide like the sonar on the soundtrack: "It's The Cain Mutiny on a nuclear submarine!" When radio communications problems aboard the USS Alabama prevent the sub from receiving its orders clearly during a tense confrontation with Russian warships, Navy officer Denzel Washington faces a huge ethical dilemma: countermand the orders of legendary Captain Ramsey (Gene Hackman) to fire nuclear missiles, or follow his command and risk launching an unprovoked nuclear war. It's really an actors' picture, and the fun is in the fireworks between Washington and Hackman, each of whose characters articulates solid reasoning behind his decision. There are no easy villains, and there's no easy way to tell right from wrong--that's what makes the nuclear stakes so terrifying. Director Tony Scott (who directed Quentin Tarantino's True Romance script) called in Tarantino to punch up the dialogue, which is why, for example, the sailors talk about Silver Surfer comic books. The digital video disc is in anamorphic widescreen; the sonorous underwater rumblings on the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack will provide you with a good opportunity to show off your system's bass response. --Jim Emerson
