Greyhound
review by Bobby Blakey
There are few actors as beloved and talented as Tom Hanks. Fresh off taking on the iconic role of Mr. Rogers he is taking on double duties for his next project. The film, Greyhound not only stars Hanks in the lead role, but also features a screenplay written by him inspired by actual events. The film co-stars Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan, and Elisabeth Shue with Get Low director Aaron Schneider at the helm. Could this bring the tense war action the trailers tease or will it sink to the bottom of the ocean?
Greyhound follows the early days of WWII, where an international convoy of 37 Allied ships, led by Captain Ernest Krause in his first command of a U.S. destroyer, crosses the treacherous North Atlantic while hotly pursued by wolf packs of Nazi U-boats. This was yet another film that was due to hit theaters, but due to the current Covid situation got bumped and thankfully picked up by Apple TV for streaming. This is a different kind of role for Hanks in the War genre as it does focus more on the action than anything else, but he brings simplistic depth to the role that might have been lost by someone else. You can see the emotional struggles he goes through during the situations without a lot of dialogue to express it.
The story is pretty simple and wastes no time getting to the point. After seeing so many epic war flicks of late like Dunkirk and 1917 I was settled in for the long haul, but to my surprise this is a streamlined flick that wastes no time delivering the goods. This film spends the majority of its hour and a half run time in a game of cat and mouse between the destroyer and U-boats. This makes for an intense set for action and suspense. It’s not high end action, but more strategy and watching the entire crew do their thing at such a fast pace is great to watch.
I love these kinds of movies and this one was better than I had honestly thought it would be. The initial trailer looked good, but not overly catching, but what it actually is was so much more. There is a great opening and closing to the film that perfectly captures the life these guys live and the intensity of their job outside of the action itself. The claustrophobic nature of the being inside the ship itself is perfectly captured and seeing the entire film from only one side makes you feel like you are part of the crew. I had
some issues hearing the dialogue at times, but not sure of that was my own hearing issues or on purpose like in Dunkirk.
This is a film that should be seen on a big screen with the best sound system possible, but no matter what your option is check it out nonetheless. You may not be able to get into the theater to see it, but you can check it out right in your living room where Greyhound is streaming exclusively on Apple TV.