Hunter Killer - Blu-ray

Movie: When an American submarine is in distress in the Arctic Ocean, it threatens to lead to an escalation between the US and Russia. Experienced Captain Joe Glass (Gerard Butler) is tasked with rescuing the submarine and its crew before a diplomatic super-gate occurs. But when Glass evacuates its crew to his ship after a confrontation with a Russian submarine, it becomes apparent that he has fallen into a dangerous conspiracy. A Russian general has the president in his power and is planning a coup that could destabilize the entire world. Now Glass, with the help of an elite unit of Navy SEALS, must try to save the Russian president and uncover the conspiracy before it is too late.

Hunter Killer is based on a US bestseller by Don Keith and George Wallace. There had been efforts to film the political thriller for many years. Pierre Morel (Taken), Philipp Noyce (The Hour of the Patriots) and later Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer) were involved in the project, but the film did not materialize at first. Then in 2016, it finally got off the ground. Gerard Butler, who fought for the film for a long time and was also involved behind the scenes as a producer, was joined by such illustrious actors as Gary Oldman and Michael Nyqvist, who died shortly afterwards. Filming was done on quite elaborate sets in London and Hong Kong, as well as on location in Bulgaria.

No question, director Donovan Marsh has not shot the best submarine thriller, but offers his audience very good entertainment with successful moments of suspense, decent action and convincing effects. The actors may not deliver Oscar-worthy performances, but they can get the best out of their roles. And that is, measured against the clichés, which they have to fight, quite a respectable performance.

After a somewhat worn first third, the tension screw is clearly tightened. There are no big surprises, but Marsh succeeds very well in building up an atmosphere in which even familiar plot elements are still gripping and involving. If you like action-heavy political thrillers, you'll get your money's worth here and be thoroughly entertained for two hours. Sure, the submarine thriller is - may I be forgiven for this pun - not particularly profound. But that does little to diminish the high entertainment value, which in the end makes Hunter Killer truly worth watching!

Picture + Sound: The Blu-ray pleases with good overall sharpness, showing detail well even in the many darker scenes set inside the submarines. Coloring is atmospheric and image depth really comes through in some scenes. The audio is in a powerful DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix that not only makes the dialogue sound well intelligible from the speakers, but really lets it rip, especially during the action scenes. Very good!

Extras: The bonus material turns out quite satisfactory. The audio commentary by director Donovan Marsh is not subtitled, but offers interested viewers with a good command of English some really exciting information about the preparations and the shooting. You can learn more about this in three making of featurettes (approx. 36:52 min.), which go into the work of the crew, the shooting and of course the actors. There are also interviews with Gerard Butler, Common, Gary Oldman and Michael Nyqvist (approx. 34:29 min.). Good.

Conclusion: Hunter Killer provides perfect entertainment for home viewing. A suspenseful action thriller that has to contend with some clichés, but packs them in such an entertaining way that the two hour running time flies by. No masterpiece, but a good remedy for the little action hunger in between. The Blu-ray can technically convince and also brings quite worth seeing bonus material. For this there is quite clearly a: recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp