The Hunley (1999) review

The Hunley is a made for TV movie released in 1999 starring Armand Assante and Donald Sutherland and tells the story of the H.L. Hunley, the first military submarine to sink an enemy in combat.

In 1864, Union Naval ships had Charleston trapped by their blockade and were shelling Charleston constantly, desperate to break the blockade of ships, the Confederates decide to launch an experimental diving torpedo boat.

The movie opens up with the second test-run going horribly wrong, this section of the movie is particularly hard to watch and we constantly cut to the crew screaming and panicking in horror as the submarine fills with water and drowns them.

Despite the damn submarine being a goddamn hazard to the Confederate army, Lt George Dixon (Assante) is convinced he can make it work, so General Beauregard (Sutherland) let's him take command of the sub.

After some trouble, Dixon recruits a new crew and they start training on their mission to sink and kill the Union, saving Charleston!

The Hunley is a very well put together film mostly due to a very strong ensemble cast and very well executed cinematography. The submarine is sometimes a CGI creation and it looks fine, I understand it would have been extremely hard to depict some of the sequences piratically.

The filmmakers did a brilliant job capturing the horrible claustrophobic environment of the submarine, the movie was made just before the real submarine was found, so there are some inaccuracies (the submarine in the movie was actually slightly roomier than the real thing!)

Armand Assante knocks it out of the park, through out the movie you learn more about his character and his backstory.

The supporting cast is a mixed bag, none of them are terrible but we don't really get to know the rest of crew that well except for some basic characteristics eg (One is a hotheaded arsehole, one is a gentle giant, one is a weird dude who can catch fish with his hands and another is a crazy teen who is desperate to be on the sub)

Hell there are 2 guys who I had to look up who their names were after the movie was over.

Sebastian Roche, Michael Stuhlbarg and Frank Vogt were the highlights of the crew.

Also this movie kinda portrays some of the Union soldiers as absolute morons, which I don't understand why they did. I get we are supposed to feel for these guys trying to survive while their city is being reduced to rubble, but that doesn't mean the Union soldiers have to be dumb blithering idiots.

The Hunley is not going to sit-well with everyone, this is a movie that honors the bravery of the Southerners who volunteered to operate the submarine, the people bothered with how the South should be remembered will probably not enjoy the movie.

Also if you are in any way claustrophobic, don't watch this movie...you will shit your pants.

In conclusion, The Hunley is a very nice little historical movie that effectively captures the brutal siege on Charleston in 1864 and the terrifying claustrophobic environment of a 19th Century Submarine.

If you are a Civil War buff or just want to watch an very chilling submarine thriller....this a pretty good one!

Ardennes Fury review

So this movie was made to be a mock-buster of the Brad Pitt film "Fury" surely it sucks right? Well actually I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this little film.

The film follows a Tank crew during the Battle of the Bulge, they have to make it to an extraction point before the American bombers destroy the area but after they find out an orphanage is in danger they quickly make a last minute decision to save them and try their hardest to make it out alive.

A major disappointment is the lack of tank battles, there is a 5 minute battle sequence as the film opens but the characters spend the majority of the film sneaking around the forest on foot, not that matters as I still really enjoyed the battle scenes and sense of adventure despite the low budget effects. Also people who like to nit-pick things like 'Those are the wrong rifles' or 'That tank is firing the wrong shell' should probably avoid this.

The actors are unknown but they do a really good job, the lead  Tom Stedham as Sgt. Lance Dawson is a very likable character, the whole film he wants to do the right thing and save as many people as he can. Even though Bill Voorhees' character Private C.K. Luinstra starts out as a jerk, I grew to like his character and loved seeing him get his "Crowning Moment of Awesome" at the end.

Ardennes Fury is definitely low budget and has it's silly moments but it's the kind of movie I watch and enjoy anyway. I know I keep saying phrases like "But I still enjoyed it" but it's true, so long as a movie is entertaining and fun to watch....I call it a good movie.

Since the people behind this film (The Asylum) are much more well known for movies like Sharknado. It's very likely Ardennes Fury will get ignored by most film audiences but in my opinion it's one of the better films they have put out

I really enjoyed Ardennes Fury and give it a positive thumbs-up!