Hostile Waters (1997)

Playing the captain of the Soviet sub which has an inadvertent collision with an American sub Rutger Hauer does a wonderfully understated job of acting the role. In fact I was pleasantly surprised by all the acting, especially being a TV film. The Soviet sub has a leak of missile fuel which catches fire with toxic fumes. Hauer contains the fire with desperate work by the crew, some of whom die in the effort. The fire threatens the reactor, which start to run out of control and must have manual control rods lowered in the reactor room. By this point they are low on oxygen and have a very small amount for use by the men selected for the job. "Hunt for Red October" while also sub movie is a different kind of movie, more in the tradition of a blockbuster. This movie shows the tension that the men feel, and breath, and is more subtle and realistic in showing how folks under pressure have to contain themselves and their situation to survive. Really a good movie, and yes, let's give Rutger Hauer some more good meaty roles like this one, he has shown the acting chops for it!

This is based on an interesting story that might even be true, and for that reason I'm glad I watched it. In fairness, it is quite good for a made-for-TV movie, but don't get your hopes up too high before you start watching. Unfortunately, I had high expectations, based on someone's comment that it's just as good as Hunt for Red October. It really isn't.I haven't read the book, so I can't comment on how faithful the movie is to that, but I can say that in terms of science, a lot of scenes just don't hold water. If you hear someone shout out a number that cannot possibly be right, best to just smile and ignore it.Others have commented that this is a gripping story, and while it had its moments, I was mostly disappointed. Despite a naturally suspenseful storyline, a combination of budget production and a mediocre script conspire to spoil too many scenes. It might have benefited from more of a subplot, and with the political tensions at the time, you would think something could've showed up in the script.Ultimately, if you are interested in submarine stories, this one will be worth watching, but don't expect much.

This is pretty much a one man show.Mr R.Hauer is outstanding as the Russian submarine captain determined at all costs to save his crew after a nuclear accident at sea.His is the only character allowed to develop.His American counterpart - Mr M.Sheen - is very one - dimensional by comparison. Mr Hauer is hypnotic.No wonder his men are willing to follow him to hell and back.He radiates strength and integrity. The Cold War politics may seem slightly ridiculous until you remember the reluctance of the Russian navy to acknowledge the plight of the "Kursk" much more recently - proof - if it were needed - that suspicion is deeply rooted in that nation's soul. There is a smattering of British thesps scattered through the Russian crew giving it a certain European gravitas. The claustrophobic nature of the submariner's life is well realised. Whether the incident recounted in the movie occurred in real life is obviously a moot point, but that debate should not be allowed to sideline the overwhelming merits of this production. Before reading the other comments on this site I hadn't realised that "Hostile Waters" was a TV movie;without being in any way patronising I can only say that only makes it even more impressive.

Oh my god, this movie was amazing!!! I'm a very big fan of Dominic Monaghan, but since I live in Sweden, I'm not able to see that much of him, so I was very, very, very happy when I looked through the newspaper and saw that they were going to show Hostile Waters!!! Then, I was a little disappointed that he only had like one line in the whole movie! But, it was still a great movie! I almost started to cry... Seriously!!! Well, it was a great movie, and I'm glad I taped it, 'cause I'm going to see it again!!!