The seascapes and battle scenes rely on solidly convincing CGI, with frequent panoramic and overhead drone shots expanding the visual scope. But the bulk of the action unfolds in the close quarters of the boat’s pilothouse and bridge, recreated on a soundstage set, which fits the claustrophobic nature of the drama. The elimination of almost all the standard scenes of reprieve or personal backstories - aside from Krause’s brief memory flashes of his last encounter with Evelyn - makes for an exciting open-sea combat experience.ĭirector Schneider and nimble cinematographer Shelly Johnson shot the film on a decommissioned, fully restored WWII-era destroyer that serves as a museum in the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge. The movie charts that treacherous crossing over three days, broken down according to watch hours, at a time when the stealthy U-boats were more sophisticated than the Navy sonar equipment used to detect them. The action is concentrated on the middle stretch of the journey known as the “Black Pit,” where surveillance aircraft from both sides are out of range, putting the zig-zagging boats at the mercy of German submarines that lurk in a wolf-pack blockade. Krause is captain of the Fletcher-class destroyer code-named Greyhound, leader of three other light warships assigned to protect a convoy of 37 merchant vessels carrying troops and crucial supplies across the North Atlantic to England. An early shot of Krause praying in his cabin signals both his faith and his fear. Navy officers who have never seen combat. His long-stalled first commission to command a ship is one of a wave of such hurried elevations in rank after Pearl Harbor for veteran U.S. She puts him off until his return, quietly conveying the steep odds against him surviving the dangerous journey. The minimal prelude is a single San Francisco scene in December, 1941, in which Krause suggests it’s time he and his late-in-life sweetheart Evelyn ( Elisabeth Shue, in what’s virtually a cameo) became engaged. I confess I approached it with a certain weariness, expecting Sully on a boat, but found myself swiftly reeled in. The movie fully immerses the audience in battle, owing something to the intensity of both the D-Day landing in Saving Private Ryan and the combat sequences in Dunkirk. But playing Captain Ernest Krause, he embodies the selfless, clenched-jaw purposefulness of the Greatest Generation with persuasive conviction and moving humility.Īs screenwriter, Hanks strips down the story to its essence, largely dispensing with both preamble and post-ordeal exhalation, focusing almost entirely on the nail-biting experience of the hellish voyage. This is one of Hanks’ more subdued recent performances, unlike his galvanizing work in, say, Captain Phillips or The Post. But unimpeachable sincerity has long been a signature of the veteran actor’s career, and that quality prevents Greyhound from ever slipping into the vanity-project trap. Hanks milks that familiar moment to a movie-ish excess slightly out of step with the economy of the rest of the film, accompanied by the requisite orchestral swell. Schneider and Hanks have fashioned a robust, old-fashioned entertainment infused with sufficient integrity to counter its inevitable turn into sentimental nobility in the concluding act. Director Aaron Schneider, like Hanks, is not new to WWII-related material, having won an Oscar for his 2003 short film Two Soldiers, a home-front drama adapted from William Faulkner’s story about Mississippi brothers whose patriotic spirit is stirred by the shock of Pearl Harbor.
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