First published on the public account "Inter-Star Whisper"
2020 is destined to be a year without movies. With most theaters around the world closed, there are only a handful of new releases this year. However, just last week, a good-looking new movie "Greyhound" aired on the Internet.
01
Introduction
"Greyhound" is a film about the Battle of the Atlantic Ocean, which is only 92 minutes long. It tells the story of how a warship named "Greyhound" escorted the Allied fleet under the threat of German U-boats in the early days of World War II.
The biggest highlight of this film is Tom Hanks, who plays the absolute protagonist "Greyhound" captain. Once again, Tom Hanks of "Playing Like What" has shown us his excellent acting skills in the movie.
The film is adapted from the 1955 novel "The Good Shepherd" by British writer Forrester (CS Forester).
It is a pity that the shocking visual effects in this film were originally born for the big screen, but unfortunately now they can only meet the audience on the Internet. Even Tom Hanks himself said it was a pity.
02
Plot synopsis (spoilers involved)
In early 1942, the United States had just entered World War II. In the North Atlantic at that time, German U-boats were rampant, often sinking Allied ships.
As a result, the Allies adopted the method of escorting both air and sea at the same time. However, the air escort cannot cover the whole journey due to the problem of aircraft fuel, resulting in a large part of the voyage in the middle that can only be guarded by escort warships. This area is known as the "Dark Trench".
The Fletcher-class warship "Grey Hound" was tasked with escorting 37 troop carriers and merchant ships through the "Dark Trench" safely. Along with the Greyhound were three other warships.
The protagonist, Ernest Krause, is the captain of the Greyhound. This was his first time as captain of the Greyhound and escorted the convoy across the Atlantic.
Into the "dark trench" soon, they found a U-shaped submarine. After the captain's command, the "Greyhound" was soon sunk with depth charges. Wreck and oil sprouted from the sea.
While the crew was celebrating, a merchant ship at the end of the fleet was suddenly hit by a torpedo. After detection, they found that a total of 5 submarines followed the fleet.
At night, the submarine took advantage of the darkness to attack the fleet. At this time, the radar of the Greyhound was damaged and could only be attacked by sight. Submarines shuttled back and forth in the fleet, attacking frantically.
The Greyhound was hampered everywhere in the fleet, that is, not to hurt the fleet, but also to avoid collisions, and to avoid accidental injuries from friendly forces. There were calls for help in the fleet.
By the next morning, the Greyhound had consumed a lot of ammunition to no avail. The fleet lost 5 ships. The Greyhound called for help, but the air escort was still 24 hours away by sea.
Fortunately, the Greyhound's sonar system was restored. In the counterattack, several warships combined to damage a submarine, forcing it out of the water. The two sides shot at each other on the sea.
Taking advantage of her artillery fire, Greyhound sank the submarine, but damaged herself and the other frigate was badly wounded and had to abandon ship.
The two sides continued to stalemate and came to a place only 4 hours away from the air escort. At this point the remaining three warships were all out of ammunition and scarred. The arrogant German army even connected to the fleet's broadcast to threaten.
Two German submarines launched a concentrated attack on the Greyhound. In order to protect the fleet, the protagonist sent the other two frigates back to protect the fleet, while the Greyhound fought two submarines alone.
The two submarines fired torpedoes from both directions at the same time, forcing Greyhound into the angle of the torpedoes. Unexpectedly, the captain commanded calmly and escaped the two torpedoes in a thrilling manner.
Dodging the torpedoes, the Greyhound fought the submarine to the death, aiming all her guns on one of them. Finally, the submarine could not withstand the fierce attack and was destroyed at the sea.
However, a second submarine rushed over. At the critical moment, the escort plane finally arrived. Under the guidance of the Greyhound, the plane sank the submarine.
The fleet of escorting planes was finally safe. The captain had not had a good meal and rest for many days when he was in command of the battle, and now he could finally take a rest.
03
evaluate
"Greyhound" is not long, except for the beginning and ending, it is only 80 minutes, so the rhythm is very tight. Except for the two-minute background story, the whole film has almost no other plots, and only tells about a naval battle.
Allegedly, there is more plot and background in the original film. However, for the sake of the rhythm and duration of the film, these clips were eventually cut and only the main storyline remained.
In this way, many people will accuse the film of being "cool" and lacking depth. Indeed, the film is slightly lacking in reflection on the war. But it is undeniable that it tells a good war story.
The authenticity presented in the film is very rare. The restoration of personnel, weapons, detection systems and even terminology at that time was very attentive, and tried to present the appearance of the naval battle at that time to us.
In particular, the very old radar system in the film, the sonar with limited monitoring function, and even the battle command center that needs to be hand-painted and broadcast, all have a very high degree of restoration.
In addition, although several warships in the movie are fictitious, their shapes and weapon designs come from some existing World War II old ships, from ship shape to staffing, they are very real.
What is more commendable in the film is that it completely shapes the character of the captain. Whether it is the prayer at the beginning, the behavior of not eating in the boat, or the command and dress in the naval battle, they are all carefully portrayed.
Tom Hanks, he is Forrest Gump, the policeman in "Miracle in the Green Mile", and Captain Sully, this time as the captain of the warship, and he really played the role.
He perfectly performed the captain's calmness and composure in the face of the enemy. It also shows the captain's forbearance under heavy pressure but not telling others, and the loss of his servant in the war.
Unlike most war movies, Greyhound isn't about war on land or in the sky, but at sea. This has led to the fact that it is difficult to have scenes of bullets and blood flying in general war films in this film.
As a result, the tension of the war is mainly expressed by the interpretation of the characters and some special effects scenes. The captain's command and dispatch is the top priority of expressing tension and excitement. Especially the captain's determined eyes looking out from the broken porthole is very impressive.
At the same time, when depicting "invisible enemies" such as submarines, the film leaves enough mystery to give people a ghostly horror, and even some places are reminiscent of "Dunkirk".
During the Battle of the Atlantic, more than 3,500 ships were sunk, and 72,200 souls were left behind in the depths of the ocean. They weren't all soldiers, they were more sailors.
So much so that, at the end of the film, the cheers of the merchant mariners facing the Greyhound are not like celebrating the victory of the war, but more like the joy of the rest of their lives. In this way, it shows the value of peace even more.
They have made great contributions to the peace of mankind with their dangerous voyages again and again. In any case, their efforts are worth remembering forever.
View more about Greyhound reviews
