Sinking Model

Rating: Null/10 (29 February 2004)

It's interesting to chart the progress of this particular genre. This movie is less related with 'Das Boot' or 'The Abyss' as it is with 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' and 'Wolfenstein'. Heck, you can trace this back to the 'Great Train Robbery'. Here's how simple it is:
--Take one easily accepted form of American hero (Indiana Jones, special forces, hard-boiled cowboys, etc.) and pump them up with style and idiosyncrasies.
--Take one easily acceptable form of villain (Nazis and aliens work best).
--Infuse some mystical elements to add intellectual intrigue (Enigma encoders, Aztec gold cache, POWs)
--Add explosives.
After that, it's up to the filmmaker to try and make something interesting. Spielberg only succeeded with the first Indiana Jones because he was willing to take risks. After that he was too bound to his post-E.T. sentimentality.
Here is just boring orange fireballs with the weaker elements of 'Private Ryan' knocked it up ten notches. Most recent war movies have that Spielbergian curse. Meanwhile, 'Abyss' and 'Das Boot' took the two sub environments--water and interiors--and exploited them the best, respectively. This doesn't go that far, it's 'Point Break' all over again.
Final Analysis = = Cinematic Dud