I recently re-watched Crimson Tide for the first time in over a decade, and I was struck by just how damn good it is. Absolute powerhouse performances from the two leads underpin tension you can cut with a knife, all directed with a style that manages to be both full of visual florish and yet somehow restrained by Tony Scott.
Obviously, The Hunt For Red October is the greatest modern submarine movie, but Crimson Tide is so close behind it as to be snapping at its heels.
Unbelievably, the move is approaching its 30th birthday. There’s that thing again, with movies making us feel old.
While out promoting F1 and appearing on The Rich Eisen Show, producer Jerry Bruckheimer let slip that there is a sequel in development:
“We have a really good director and writer talking to the navy right now about what’s going on under the water.”
He didn’t name the potential director, but he said that Denzel would return if the script was good. As so much time has passed, many of those involved in the original are sadly no longer with us. Gene Hackman, Tony Scott, and Robert Towne have all passed away.
Crimson Tide focuses on a clash of wills between the seasoned commanding officer of a U.S. nuclear missile submarine (Hackman) and his new executive officer (Washington), arising from conflicting interpretations of an order to launch their missiles. The story parallels a real incident during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
It was originally to tell the story of a Trident ballistic missile submarine crew attempting to stop the ship’s fictional computer from launching nuclear missiles and starting World War III. The Navy was told the story would be The Hunt for Red October meets 2001: A Space Odyssey. The story was changed after some of the production team spent time aboard the USS Florida and were assured that it simply could not happen.
As a result, the script was completely re-worked, including uncredited dialogue from Quentin Tarantino.
