Robert J. Maxwell At the time that Ronald Reagan and Sergei Gorbachev schedule a meeting in Iceland about reducing nuclear weapons, two submarines are playing tag under the Atlantic Ocean. The American submarine, commanded by Martin Sheen wearing dark hair and an impeccably groomed gray beard, accidentally scrapes the Soviet submarine, commanded by Rutger Hauer, whose movie this is.No damage to the American boat but the incident has sheared off part of the top deck of the Soviet boat. Fuel floods one of the compartments, the missile bay and it's put out only by the exercise of Herculean strength and bravery.But, like the corpse coming back to life in a horror movie, something else flares up. The nuclear power plant goes ape. It has to be shut down manually by men wearing Hazmat suits and putting all their strength into returning the rods to the radioactive materials before they pass out. The rods creak downward, inch by agonizing inch. Success in sinking the rods and shutting down the radiation is finally achieved, with loss of life, but the boat is now so dangerous it must be abandoned and it sinks thousands of feet before coming to rest on the ocean bottom, still carrying sixteen missiles, several corpses, and a radioactive power plant.Hauer handled the emergency as well as any experienced captain could but he's still dismissed from the Soviet Navy. He returns to his wife, Sanja Spengler, who looks so yummy that he shouldn't be suicidal about the way things turned out.It's hard to tell how much of it is true because nobody with any weight seems prepared to talk about it but it has the ring of at least semi-truth. There is a commissar aboard, representing Moscow, and a member of KGB. These political types are usually treated badly in American movies. They're often ugly and they sneer a lot. No wonder Sean Connery broke his commissar's neck in "The Hunt for Red October." In this movie the commissar begins as a superior snotnose. Hauer always greets him with "How's Moscow" and then movies quickly on. But here the commissar, though no sailor, plays a pivotal part in the attempts to save the ship and his last communication with Hauer is a friendly, sympathetic smile.It drags a bit here and there, and some of the technical details escape me. Needles wriggle on strange dials. Incomprehensible orders are issued. But it's not at all a bad movie. The Russians are rational, though they have their hawks. The Americans are rational too, although they have their hawks who want to start the damme war and get on with it.The production values are low and he CGIs primitive but it's a much more balanced story than either "The Hunt For Red October" or "The Widowmaker." If you watch it you'll probably be caught up in this tense story.

alex_tinajero Although a limited budget film, what makes this movie so relevant is the soviet point of view, and a struggle from the crew, and certain naval staff to prevent an exponential catastrophe.Compared to K19, Hostile Waters plot is way better and may have been a huge hit if produced in the way K19 was done. It's based on true facts and really shows how "small" people can make a real difference when knowing what to fight for.It's more technical than any other submarine movies, and in the beginning it details all the compartments which is relevant to understand as the movie goes along.I really liked this movie, and considered one of my best - if you oversee the production limitations.

scotty-37 This movie is worth looking at if you can catch it on HBO or something without too much bother.*** Warning: I talk about the ending of the movie, so if you're going to be bothered, don't read further. ***I found some of the movie a little annoying because it builds suspense for too long at times without really having anything much going on. The final scenes where they are trying to lower the rods in the nuclear reactor just go on for too long--especially since there are a bunch of people in the reactor room who just stand around and gawk instead of helping the one guy actually lower the rods.Even though it has flaws, this movie does well with a small budget and is still much more interesting than a lot of hollywood movies with much bigger budgets. It's not a classic, but it's worth seeing if you just want something to watch for the night.

suspie I catched this movie on TV when it had already been started. I did know the story about what happened in 1986 and was intrigued. The beginning is exciting when the boats collide, and there is some decent CGI there. However, as the movie progressed all the American actors like Martin Sheen dissapear. On the Russian ship alone the climax just isn't cinematic enough. All in all a very intresting story too simplisticly told.