Jon Bon Jovi, in his acting debut, is passable but forgettable as Tyler's best friend, Pete Emmett. Paxton is surprisingly lacking in passion or involvement as Dahlgren. Jonathan Mostow keeps our eyes glued on the screen. There are some nice shots, for instance, where the camera actually follows the submarine as it dives beneath the waves. On the other hand, one thing Mostow seems to attempt with success is to convey a sense of claustrophobia in the leaky submarine.
Characters sweat and look about nervously, and water drips from every corner.
It's fun and exciting, and every now and then might even set your pulse racing a little faster. But ultimately, as a big-budget update of those old postwar action films, Mostow has borrowed a few plot elements and characters too many. Copyright 2000 Shannon Patrick Sullivan.