Tony Scott’s gripping action thriller stars Gene Hackman as Captain Frank Ramsey, commanding officer of nuclear submarine the USS Alabama, and Denzel Washington as his newly appointed executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter.

When rebel Russian troops seize control of nuclear missile launch sites and threaten to attack the United States and Japan, the Alabama is dispatched to patrol the coast of eastern Russia in readiness to launch a pre-emptive strike should the situation escalate.

Ramsey is a veteran of the Cold War with combat experience, Hunter is Harvard educated in military history and tactics but has never engaged in armed conflict. The tension between the two officers is clear from the start.

Hunter tells Ramsey “In my humble opinion, in the nuclear world the true enemy is war itself”, a sentiment not shared by his captain, whose philosophy is “We’re here to preserve democracy, not too practice it”.

A radio message is received ordering a missile launch against the Russians based on intelligence they are fuelled for attack, followed by a second message which may be a retraction of the first order but cannot be decoded due to damage to the Alabama’s radio electronics caused by a Russian submarine attack. The more cautious Hunter refuses to concur with Ramsey’s decision to launch an attack based on the last confirmed order, leading to a battle of wills, a divided crew and charges of mutiny.

Producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer were inspired to make the film after watching the four-part documentary ‘Submarines: Sharks of Steel’ but initial cooperation from the U.S. navy including allowing a production crew aboard a Trident submarine was subsequently withdrawn when the original script concerning a crew trying to stop their computer launching a missile attack was changed to a story of disharmony between naval officers.

Tony Scott did manage to get footage of the real USS Alabama though after checking it was not illegal to film naval vessels.

Micheal Schiffer’s screenplay is sprinkled with pop culture references by the crew to submarine films, Star Trek and the Silver Surfer by an uncredited Quentin Tarantino who had scripted ‘True Romance’ for Scott two years earlier.

Hackman and Washington are both on top form here as are the fine supporting cast including Viggo Mortensen, James Gandolfini, George Dzundza and Matt Craven.

A tense, thought-provoking film with powerhouse performances from the two lead actors.