With a $50 million budget and Tom Hanks at the helm, GREYHOUND was slated as a big screen summer release. Without any theatres to show it in, Apple TV+ bought the rights and launched the film exclusively on their platform last night.
Gripping and suspenseful, the WW2 drama grabs you in its opening moments and never lets up, immersing you in one action scene after another.
Hanks is rookie US Navy Captain Krause, protecting a huge convoy of allied ships to the UK. It's just a few months after Pearl Harbor and the waters are swarming with German U-boats, determined to keep the troops and supplies from reaching London.
Like Sam Mendes' "1917", the film moves you through several days at such a rapid pace that there's no time to think. You're thrust into battle moments in which decisions made in a split second will impact the entire mission.
Hanks also wrote the film, displaying the same passion for our troops, WWII veterans and history that he did producing "Band of Brothers". The screenplay is admittedly short of any in-depth character development, but nails the intensity, dialogue and procedures aboard ship.
Hanks and Director newcomer Aaron Schneider build to a tense conclusion with multiple u-boat subs bearing down on the Greyhound at the same time, delivering some edge-of-your-seat thrills.
The special effects and sound design are first rate. You ARE there.....
Stephen Graham (Snatch) is very good as Charlie, Krause's right hand man and Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas) provides grounding as Krause's soon to be fiance back home.
At just over 90 minutes, it's a fast & furious Atlantic crossing, set to TV veteran composer Blake Neely's first big screen score that's a deft blend of Jerry Goldsmith & Hans Zimmer for all you music movie buffs out there.
Put on your life jacket, heavy coat and helmet and buckle up for GREYHOUND. Just like Hanks, by the end of this, I needed a nap!
It blasts its way to a B+.
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