Weirdly, despite having a major in history, I’ve never gone in much for historical films (especially war ones). That being said, there are some historical war films that I do like: Hacksaw Ridge, Gallipoli, Dunkirk and 1917 probably the ones that most readily come to mind. The film Greyhound is not something that really piqued my interest, and after watching it, I remain thoroughly underwhelmed.
Tom Hanks is Commander Ernest Krause, captain of a group of ships providing an escort to an Allied fleet. Krause knows his stuff but it’s actually his first time in a wartime command. Understandably, he is nervous. Understandably, he wants to do a good job.
The entire runtime of the film (ninety minutes) is devoted to this escort. It’s not an easy job by any means, and Krause and the other ships soon come under attack by the dreaded and deadly German U-Boats.
Of course, as you can probably anticipate, constantly engaging the enemy leaves Krause’s fleet severely under-supplied and therefore very vulnerable. The last third of the film is admittedly more interesting as they have to try to survive whilst conserving those very limited resources.
The plot progresses as slowly as the ship across the ocean, and it really didn’t hold my attention all that much. On paper, the plot is perfectly serviceable, but I never really felt the tension I thought I should have from such a situation. If you’re looking for a wartime naval film that will have you absolutely sweating bullets, Das Boot is the one you’re looking for. Maybe my expectations for Greyhound were set too high after Das Boot?
I think the main reason why I failed to be absorbed in this film, despite the fact that the story by all rights should have been thrilling, is down to the performances and the filming. Let’s start with the performances.
I usually like stories that involve characters in conflict with their duty (like Krause is – he has to kill people but he doesn’t like it) but Hanks displays the same general mood throughout the entire film, so it’s impossible to tell the difference between him being happy, sad, stressed, or haunted by the lives he has taken in the course of duty.
Now, Tom Hanks is good in anything he’s in – usually. I hate to say it, but I really felt like he wasn’t giving it his all here. Writing negative things about Tom Hanks (who seems like one of the nicest people in the whole entire world) literally pains me, so I’m going to stop it now.
Then there’s the fact that nobody in the film ever seemed even mildly flustered at the fact their ship was at risk of being destroyed. I’m talking about mainly the supporting actors here, but I also do think that Krause responded to a lot of events with about half of the energy that those events really required.
The other characters also just aren’t memorable. I honestly could barely distinguish them from each other, or even remember their names. They all served virtually the same purpose anyway – to be there for Krause to command, to symbolize the folly of youth lost to conflict, and to sometimes have a few speaking lines (or look directly at the camera, like this one guy kept doing).
The film is also not shot very creatively. All of the expected angles are used – a close-up shot to show the attempt at fear on a character’s face, a wide shot to show the extent of the damage done to a ship. I know that probably makes me sound like a snobby asshole, and it’s not like I was expecting some Anderson-level symmetry or something, but I really can’t describe the way Greyhound is filmed as anything other than generic.
That’s probably all I have to say about Greyhound, to be honest. I know this is a pretty short review, but I don’t have anything else to say (either good or bad), and I’m really coming across as very bitter this week, aren’t I? Overall, the film is fine. Should you watch Greyhound? Well, it wasn’t my cup of tea, but there are plenty out there who would find it interesting.
BEST BITS
- The CGI was pretty good. I’d say it was one of the best parts of the film.
WORST BITS
- Not enough tension for a film about an incredibly tense situation.
- I had to write negative thing about Tom Hanks.
FINAL SCORE: 5.5/10
