Crimson Tide
- MPAA Rating
- R
- Theatrical Release Date
- May 11, 1995
- Genre(s)
-
- Thrillers
- Sea Adventure
- Tony Scott
- Race Against Time
- Denzel Washington
- Action & Combat
- Drama
- Cold War
- War at Sea
- Rating (Stars)
-
- Description
- You can almost hear the studio pitch meeting echoing throughout Crimson Tide like the sonar on the soundtrack: "It's The Cain Mutiny on a nuclear submarine!" When radio communications problems aboard the USS Alabama prevent the sub from receiving its orders clearly during a tense confrontation with Russian warships, Navy officer Denzel Washington faces a huge ethical dilemma: countermand the orders of legendary Captain Ramsey (Gene Hackman) to fire nuclear missiles, or follow his command and risk launching an unprovoked nuclear war. It's really an actors' picture, and the fun is in the fireworks between Washington and Hackman, each of whose characters articulates solid reasoning behind his decision. There are no easy villains, and there's no easy way to tell right from wrong--that's what makes the nuclear stakes so terrifying. Director Tony Scott (who directed Quentin Tarantino's True Romance script) called in Tarantino to punch up the dialogue, which is why, for example, the sailors talk about Silver Surfer comic books. The digital video disc is in anamorphic widescreen; the sonorous underwater rumblings on the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack will provide you with a good opportunity to show off your system's bass response. --Jim Emerson
- Director
- Tony Scott
- Stars
-
- Denzel Washington
- Gene Hackman
- Matt Craven
- George Dzundza
- Viggo Mortensen
- Running Time
- 116 minutes
- Original Price
- $14.99
- Current Value
- $3.98
- DVD Features
-
- Closed-captioned
- Color
- DVD-Video
- Letterboxed
- Widescreen
- NTSC
- 2.35:1