This movie had premiered in Jakarta theaters since last Friday but only in 1 cinema chain. I was not sure whether I wanted to see this one or not since it was not the usual Hollywood blockbuster kind of movie and I am only familiar with 1 name which was Nicolas Cage. But then the movie was playing in the theater nearest our home which added the element of interest. And yesterday was a slow Monday & I had no urgent task at the office, so I was free to see it with my wife who already bought the tickets for 6.40PM show since lunch time. Well what's the story all about?
Brief Story Line
Movie started with the scene of the battle ship USS Indianapolis captained by Charles "Charlie" McVay (Nicolas Cage - The Rock, Con Air, National Treasure and many more) being hit by various Japanese plane during the World War 2 in 1945. Despite the hits coming from Kamikaze planes, the ship survived the attack and managed to minimize the loss to 9 crews. Meanwhile at home, the US high rank officials decided to use the atomic bomb against Japanese after Pearl Harbour was attacked and the US lost so many people there. The plan was to use a battle ship to deliver the nuclear materials to Titian island to be assembled into atomic bomb. Due to the highly secretive mission and to avoid detection (or it was thought to be safe), it was decided not to allocate a destroyer escort even though it would be able to detect Japanese submarine that would be able to attack & destroy the battle ship.
After going back for repair of USS Indianapolis due to the latest attack by Japanese, Charlie was given the special instruction for the delivery from the President. The sailors who were enjoying some leisure time on shore were all called back to the ship as it prepared for its mission. Among those were Bama (Matt Lanter - Sorority Row, Vampires Suck, the later version of Beverly Hills 90210 TV series etc) and his best friend Mike D'Antonio (Adam Scott Miller) who were in love with the same woman Clara (Emily Tennant). There were also Theodore (Mandela Van Peebles) who loved to write, Garrison (Craig Tate) and many others whom unfortunately I could not remember them one by one, but each would have their own role in this film.
Back at the ship, we were also introduced to the Chief McWhorter (Tom Sizemore - Born on The Fourth Of July, Pearl Harbor etc) who was in charge of the machine below deck and very experienced with the ship. There was also the Lieutenant Standish (Callard Harris) who wanted to be feared by his men. When the ship embarked, we would be shown the relationship of some of the crews (total crews aboard the ship was > 1000).
Meanwhile, a Japanese submarine I-58 commanded by Hashimoto (Yutaka Takeuchi) was patrolling the sea and looking for US battleship to be attacked. He had the Kaiten army at his disposal (like kamikaze soldiers, except at sea). Even zigzag maneuver would not be able to avoid Kaiten attack as it had the ability to re-align the target. Zigzag maneuver would only be useful if the attack was using normal torpedoes.
For those who already knew the real history, I believe the rest of the story would be known already. However, those that do not know (like me and my wife and probably most of Indonesian people), I will let you all watch the movie till completion to find out what would happen next to all of them.
End of Brief Story Line
To my surprise I was actually enjoying the movie. I did not put up too high expectation as I was not sure what the movie was all about and as I said, there were not a lot of star power (except Nicolas Cage who sometimes can play in good movies, but sometimes not too good). This movie was not a war movie where you would be bombarded with the scenes of war through out the whole film. Instead it was more like a survival drama movie, with the war as background. The focus of the movie were on the crew of USS Indianapolis as well as the captain.
Watching this movie made me read more about the history of Captain McWay (yes you can read in wikipedia about him as this film was based on true events and quite honoring the actual events). It was sad seeing his life story but also glad at the end. The movie had a lot of touching moments especially when they relate to those crew and the captain. The relationship between the crews, the sacrifice and even the love triangle between Bama, Mike and Clara were also nice to see.
This movie was not having a large budget like other blockbuster movies and therefore please do not expect very high tech special effects. But that was not the main attraction anyway. So if you are looking for the kind of war movie with war scenes and cool special effects, perhaps the 2001 movie Pearl Harbor may suit you better. But if you are looking for a survival drama, then this one would totally be satisfying. In addition to the touching moments, there were of course some fun moments and suspenseful moments at the sea involving sharks. Those definitely made the audience (including my wife) screamed at times. By the way, this movie was directed by Mario Van Peebles who was also actor in movies like New Jack City, Solo etc. Incidentally his son also played in this movie (Mandela Van Peebles).
Overall, I think this movie is worth to watch. This prove that it does not have to have a high budget to produce a good movie. But then again, this is my personal view. As usual, people may not be able to appreciate certain movies which other found entertaining and vice versa. If you are from Indonesia, please be reminded that it is only playing in 1 cinema chain. So better do it faster if you want to catch it, otherwise next week may be more difficult to locate the cinemas still playing this movie.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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