Greyhound
(Apple Originals/Stage 6 Films)
By Lucas Allen
Based on the 1955 novel “The Good Shepherd,” by C.S. Forester, “Greyhound” is a bird’s eye view of World War II’s Battle of Atlantic from the perspective of the Allies.
It also shows the strategies and defenses these brave men used that are still being taught in the Navy today. This is the third World War II-era movie to star Tom Hanks (who also wrote this film’s script), after he coached a women’s baseball team in “A League of Their Own,” and searched for Matt Damon in “Saving Private Ryan.”
After America’s official entrance into the second World War, Allied ships from the U.S. and Canada sail through the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, bringing supply aid to Britain. Leading the pack is a small battleship, the Greyhound, with its commander Krause (Hanks) captaining the crew over rough waters. He’s also a very religious man with a lovely girlfriend named Evelyn (Elisabeth Shue) waiting back home though she refused his marriage proposal before he left. But more problems arise for him when his radar crew spotted an enemy submarine that’s ready to attack.
For the next several days, Krause and his crew find themselves at the mercy of some German U-boats attacking the supply ships at every turn. One of those subs, the Grey Wolf had its eye on the Greyhound, while its commander (voice of Thomas Kretschmann) taunts them over their radio. With the odds stacked against them, Krause has to use so much of his courage to get his crew to battle to the very end.
Much of this film is a non-stop sea battle that shows the bravery and devastation the men went through in winning the war. Although it begins with some quiet moments with Hanks’ character, the movie wastes no time getting into battle with the ferocity of bombs and torpedoes roaring underneath the ocean. During those scenes, director Aaron Schneider keeps the action claustrophobic inside the ship especially when things get intense. He also employs wider shots of the ocean to try to emphasize the epic scope of this battle similarly to older films of this sort. These action scenes end up being a major highlight for fans of war movies to savor.
But the film’s biggest sin is a very short runtime of 90 minutes with the last ten minutes devoted to end credits. With a heavy lack of character development and too much focus on the action, there’s not enough emotional attachment to get connected to the story where most of the dialogue is nothing but battle cries and technical jargon. At least the older two to three-hour war films took the time to balance the war and the important players. Maybe Hanks originally wrote a longer script with more characters to interact and emotional drama, or the book wasn’t interesting enough to adapt when liberties could’ve been taken to make it more of a Hollywood epic.
Speaking of Hanks, he’s the only big-name star in the film, and brings his great talents to his character. Naturally, he’s exceptional at reacting to the CG-designed action like he’s actually captaining a warship. No matter the quality of the end product he’s involved in, he can still deliver his best 100 percent at the time. Both Shue and Kretschmann have tiny roles, but they each do a fine job regardless.
In a way, “Greyhound” has potential but can’t compete with the likes of the very recent “Dunkirk” and “1917” for recreating the world at war on screen. Despite the best efforts of its director and star/writer, it ends up being another sore spot in Apple TV+’s difficulty in getting out of Netflix’s shadow in the streaming wars. With movie theaters remaining closed for the time being, streaming at home sure has its pros and cons.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: PG-13 (for war-related action/violence, and brief strong language)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 2.5 Stars (Out of Four)
